The Second Galactic Civil War
by AzureSpider
Summary: Fan-made sequel to TFA that essentially replaces the upcoming Episodes VIII and IX. With the destruction of both Starkiller Base and most of the New Republic Fleet, it is total war between the First Order and the Resistance. As Rey trains under Luke and learns the ways of the Jedi, Kylo Ren uses the secrets of Sith Holocrons to create a new and terrible weapon. Finn/Poe, Rey/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Well, as it's Star Wars Day, and during the 40th year of Star Wars no less, I thought that now was as good a time as any to share this with you all. But first, a story about the story:**

 **This began back towards the end of last year I think it was, when I just sort of spontaneously decided to do a Star Wars story for the heck of it. I'd been watching some fan-made videos on Youtube and had been struck with inspiration. So I sat down and started writing (or typing as it were). But now, this story has ended up becoming a full-length epic, as these sorts of things usually do with me, since for the life of me I can never seem to write short stories. Oh well.**

 **For the context, this story takes place after TFA but is not canon with Disney's continuity on the account of how the events here basically replace Episodes VIII and IX. Think of this as sort of an "alternate timeline" if you will. One that also will include a** ** _TON_** **(and I do mean a ton), of references to the original SW continuity, now known as "Legends". So basically, think of this as being a bit like the "middle ground" between Disney's Canon, and the Legends Canon. It has elements and characters taken from both.**

 **All that explaining out of the way, I hope you enjoy. And May the 4th Be With You!**

Chapter 1: Echoes in the Darkness

 _Somewhere…_

They'd finally found it.

Surprisingly (at the time), the blasted thing had been on Naboo. He'd ordered his men to search Byss a thousand times, and he'd had spies and agents on Coruscant poking about and around any of the countless buildings there that had once been major seats of power for Palpatine, or places he frequented for some other reason. Everything from the Jedi Temple turned Emperor's Palace, to the old Senate building and the opera house Palpatine oversaw the construction of, and where he spoke of Darth Plagueis to Anakin Skywalker. Even his old lair on the outskirts of Coruscant where he'd schemed as Darth Sidious during the Clone Wars was located and searched. And all of them had yielded their share of treasures, trinkets, and items he could make use of at a later date. But it was on Naboo that they'd finally found the last of Palpatine's Sith Holocrons.

 _It's always the place you least suspect._

Then again, Sheev Palpatine _was_ born there, and his family had been one of Naboo's rich elite before their untimely deaths, so perhaps it wasn't the _last_ place he'd have suspected.

Kylo Ren paced back and forth unsteadily, ill at ease in spite of himself. It was all over and done with. The tedium, the searching, the thought that he might never find Palpatine's last treasure. He _had_. He had found it and it was his to make use of as he saw fit.

He held the holocron, inspecting it and turning it over in his black leather gloved hands. The former Emperor had not skimped on intricacy or aesthetics; the holocron was a tad larger than most others, and was of the pyramid shape that Sith Holocrons favored (Jedi holocrons, conversely, favored a cube shape). It's design could perhaps be called ostentatious, but it was well made and well-designed; mostly a bold crimson that Sith in general and Palpatine in particular were partial to, with the entire border of the thing plus all of the edges being in solid electrum gold (the same electrum that all of Palpatine's lightsabers had as a decorative feature). Each of the sides of the pyramid plus the base featured additional gold designs.

 _What secrets are you hiding, I wonder?_

Kylo Ren held out the holocron with one hand, and with a wave of his other hand called on the Force to open and unlock the holocron. It flatly refused to open. Frowning behind the ink-colored helmet that paid homage to his grandfather's alter-ego, Kylo Ren set the holocron down on a small pedestal in his room designed for holding them. Then he sat down and looked at the holocron long and hard.

 _I've studied the holocrons of **all** the great Sith of the past; Marka Ragnos, Naga Sadow, Exar Kun, Darth Revan, even Darth Bane himself. And all opened to me. **None** resisted my calling. They all knew I served the Dark Side. Why will this one not open? Does it consider me unworthy somehow?_

Kylo Ren knew that was a possibility. The Emperor had been in life the purest manifestation of the Dark Side known to the Galaxy, and it was quite feasible that only one as committed to the cause as him could be allowed the privilege of accessing whatever dark secrets the holocron contained. And Kylo Ren, well…

 _I admit...I have been...feeling it again. That damnable call of the Light. Urging me, **nagging** me. Beckoning me to come to it and embrace it. **Never.** I will not surrender to it's pull. The Supreme Leader and the holocrons of the great Dark Lords of the past have taught me what I need to know. They've shown me the strength of the Dark Side._

Kylo Ren was interrupted by the sound of a knock on the door. He rose to his feet and answered. On the other side was a well-dressed First Order officer who introduced himself with perfect suavity, as Lieutenant Usher. He had come to Kylo Ren to inform him that the last piece of the missing map to Luke Skywalker had been found. Some backwater desert planet named "Jakku" was where it had been tracked.

As Kylo Ren got up to leave, he shot a brief look over at Palpatine's holocron, still sitting on the pedestal. Almost beckoning him to come back and try again. Daring him to. _Taunting_ him, even.

 _We're not finished._ Kylo Ren thought darkly as he looked at the holocron before going out to handle the situation on Jakku personally. _We're not finished at all. I'll come back again when I'm worthy._

Days later, following the Starkiller Base fiasco, Kylo Ren awoke to pain from the injuries he'd sustained from that blue lightsaber he'd so coveted. His first instinct was to break the neck of the medic overlooking him but he restrained himself out of a sense of pragmatism. He did however, angrily shove aside both the doctor and the medical droids that were all fussing over him. He awkwardly clambered off of the table he'd been on, landing just as awkwardly on his feet and realizing all at once that he hadn't taken the time to let his injuries heal fully. No matter. He just used his anger from the pain to fuel himself, grabbed his discarded black garments (which had been repaired along with his injured body), and stormed off down the hallway. He wouldn't put it off. Not any longer. He'd been so caught up in everything that had happened with the girl and her friend and the damned Wookie that he hadn't thought of it until now; he hadn't had the time.

He had done it.

He had gone and murdered his own father when offered the chance to go back to the Light Side. He had gone irrevocably from conflicted adept to being baptised in the Dark Side. Gone was the call to the Light Side, gone were his doubts. All of it. As though they'd never even been there.

And that meant that Palpatine's holocron would not refuse him now.

Entering his room, Kylo Ren tried again to unlock Palpatine's holocron after shutting the door. And sure enough, this time, it opened.

The ghostly blue image of Emperor Palpatine materialized, his hood covering part of his face as it so often had in life. Beneath the hood, the hideous cracks and sickening, corrosive effects of Dark Side corruption were readily apparent. Looking at them on the Palpatine hologram, it was only then that Kylo Ren realized his own flesh now felt different. Bringing his hands up to touch his skin, he realized that he too now had the cracks. Not as extreme as Palpatine's, but still present. A quick look in the room's mirror revealed that he had also taken on the pallor and disease-like appearance of a true Dark Side devotee. And while (again), not as bad as Palpatine's, it did go some lengths towards ravaging his once handsome face. His eyes were yellow now too.

 _I shall have to correct this with Sith Alchemy. The changes to the face may mark me for what I am, but sometimes, the deception a handsome face can provide is better._

 _"Ah, a Skywalker…"_ The holocron spoke. " _I've been expecting one of you for some time…"_

"How do you know who I am?" Kylo Ren asked.

" _The Force has always run strong in your family. It was...easy to detect. Besides...I see much of Anakin Skywalker in you."_

"Do you know what I've summoned you for?"

 _"Oh, yes. I sense you wish to continue your journey down the Dark Side."_

"I have already proven myself committed to it. Otherwise, you would not have opened to me."

 _"True."_ The ghostly blue figure made a smile, the sort of positively unnerving smile that would make most people's skin crawl right off. But Kylo Ren was not most people.

 _"...but you **do** crave more power, don't you?" _ Palpatine's holocron asked with that same mocking smile upon his face.

"Yes. I just need your guidance."

 _"Oh, you don't need guidance. You do not yet understand this, as you are not yet the master yourself. But it is the apprentice or student's duty to learn all that they can from their master, just as it is the master's right to refrain from revealing all their secrets."_

"The voice of experience?" Kylo Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.

 _"Indeed. My own master for instance, Darth Plagueis. He made the grave error of teaching me too much, and too quickly at that. The moment that he did, he became…'unnecessary'."_

Kylo Ren didn't need the pause before the holocron said "unnecessary". He was certainly well-educated enough in Sith lore to know the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise.

"So then you have nothing to offer me?"

 _"I have plenty to offer you, but I shall not reveal it all. Some secrets and knowledge I forsee being quite useful to you, and to the Dark Side's cause. But other things you do not need to know of at this time."_

"Then what _can_ you teach me?" Kylo Ren demanded, rapidly losing patience.

Palpatine's holocron smiled. " _Let us start with 'The Dark Side Compendium'. Beginning with the Book of Anger..."_

 **Author's Note: Gonna come out and say it now: do not expect me to finish this story. I hope that I will be able to, but I can make no promises where that's concerned. Real life and it's many needs, demands, wants, and also pleasures keep me plenty busy, and I am also currently finishing up College, looking into getting a job, _and_ working on original stories right now too, so between it all, I cannot regularly update on this site anymore as I did in my heyday here. But, I can still share as much of this story as I do with you. Hope you like whatever I do manage to put up on this site.**

 **Some Trivia:**

 **The Sith Lords mentioned here are all from the Legends continuity with the obvious exceptions of Palpatine, Bane, and Vader. Likewise, Byss is a planet from the Legends continuity that Palpatine spent a great deal of time on, draining away the life-forces of the planet's population until there was nothing left. That's right, boys and girls: Legends Palpatine Force-drained an entire planet. Yeah.**

 **The Dark Side Compendium was divided into three volumes: "The Book of Anger", "The Weakness of Inferiors", and "The Creation of Monsters". They were basically the Reborn/Cloned Emperor Palpatine's magnum opus that detailed his very nihilistic and self-serving worldview that extolled the usual Sith virtues and disparaged most everything else. Yet another thing from Legends that I integrated into this story.**

 **Electrum Gold is indeed a thing (at least in Legends), being the explanation for the fancy gold bits on Palpatine and Mace Windu's lightsaber hilts. They do not in any way make the lightsaber more powerful, rather the gold plating indicates a duelist of exceptional skill (of whom Sidious and Mace certainly qualify).**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Becoming a Jedi

 _Ahch-To_

"I'm not sure I'm doing it right." Rey confessed as she again failed to telekinetically lift the objects that her new Jedi Master had laid out in front of her.

"Don't get discouraged." Luke Skywalker said patiently. "Most don't get it right the first time."

"This isn't my first time." Rey pointed out. "It's my _fourth_ time. And still nothing. I don't understand; I was able to summon your lightsaber to me on Starkiller Base. Why can't I do anything now?"

"Moments of crisis and moments of training are not the same thing. It's easier for an inexperienced Force-user to call on it involuntarily in a stressful situation. But, such invocations of power are at best unreliable, not to mention dangerous. The discipline and control that comes with being a Jedi is always better."

"Well, so far, I can't seem to get it."

"You're still tense. You need to learn to _relax_. Calm yourself and clear your mind. You can't demand the thing. A Jedi lets the Force _flow_ through him or her. You try to fight back against a current, it doesn't go well."

"Is that what the Sith and Knights of Ren do? Fight against the current?"

Luke frowned as Rey mentioned those groups, but still gave a patient and mediated answer: "Not exactly. They don't completely resist or struggle against the current, but they do attempt to bend it to their will. Always for violent, selfish, or cruel ends. Jedi too can bend the Force to their will, but only ever in the service of a good outcome, and the relationship is far more reciprocal. Again, you must first let the Force in and trust in it, before you can expect to command it with casual ease."

As if to demonstrate this, Luke inhaled deeply, shut his eyes, and spent a split-second letting the Light Side flow into him as though it were every bit the powerful water he described it as. Even with her seemingly stunted progress, Rey could sense the power of the Light Side in Luke, feeling it like the comforting glow and warmth of the sun. Then, he opened his eyes and with a wave of his mechanical hand, effortlessly lifted every last object in front of himself and Rey off the ground, plus several large stones and boulders for good measure.

"Show-off."

"Just demonstrating what you yourself can do, if you take what I just told you seriously."

"Alright, I'll try."

Rey shut her eyes as Luke had, and inhaled deeply. She did what she could to clear her mind, let go of her annoyance at past failures, let go of her frustrations and insecurities for just a moment, and reached out…

It was an interesting experience. She felt the Light Side come roaring into her, and it was a good feeling. Like being warmed from the inside out, and also to some extent feeling the texture and surface of the objects even though she was several feet from them. But still she felt them, almost as though they were a part of her for a brief moment. The sort of thing that make comparisons between Force telekinesis and a common tractor beam ridiculous to anyone who knew what it felt like to use the former (or experience it).

Rey dared to open her eyes, and saw the first few objects in front of her lift off the ground. Only the smallest and simplest ones, but they were still lifted nonetheless, and to her happiness, they were going up, up, and up. Soon, they were all over five and a half feet off the ground. Turning to look at Luke, she could see him beaming with pride.

"There, you see? You can do it. Just let the Force flow through you, don't fight against it, and soon you will be able to call on it on a whim. But you must never forget to nurture the connection. Trying to take the quick and easy path, demanding the power and trying to bend what comes your way to your will without regard for the cost, that's the way of the Dark Side."

"Have you…" Rey paused and bit her lip awkwardly as she hesitated to finish her question. But then she did: "You...speak of the Dark Side with such knowledge...have you ever used it yourself?"

"A few times, yes. And they were bad decisions on my part. But I felt I needed to know. Needed to understand why people would ever go for such a power. Those few tastes were a few too many. I pulled myself back quickly enough and never looked back. But I was also pretty committed to the Jedi path by that point. Many others who tried what I did weren't, and they weren't able to pull away as I did. And there have been others who were just as committed as myself, and they still got corrupted. Don't make any mistake, Rey; the Dark Side can corrupt anyone. It's a strong seducer."

"Like...what happened with Darth Vader...your father."

Luke Skywalker nodded solemnly. "Walk with me, Rey. I want to show you something."

Rey obeyed, following the older Jedi as the two took what both considered "the scenic route", walking along the edge of the landmass they were on and looking out at the deep blue ocean and clear blue sky. Even the outcroppings of rock and other patches of land had their own "rough-nature" appeal to them. Mindful of what Luke had told her, Rey opened herself up and all but dared the Light Side to come into her, and let her feel it's warm embrace. And it did. Just admiring the scenery and walking along, on the planet where the first Jedi Temple was, it felt good. She could see why Luke Skywalker had chosen to come here. After all that had happened to him, what better place to go to heal?

Eventually, the walk came to a cave entrance. Luke walked in first, and beckoned for Rey to follow. She did, and stopped short upon seeing what was inside:

It was filled with natural crystal formations that came in a rainbow of colors, from bright blue to forest green to to orange-yellow. Within the cave, Rey felt the presence of the Force spike dramatically.

"This place…" Luke said. "...is one of the first Kyber Crystal caves the Jedi Order discovered. Back when the Jedi were mostly based on this planet. This is where the crystals for their lightsabers came from. I find that, as the Force is particularly strong here, it is a good place to meditate."

Luke sat down and motioned for Rey to sit next to him. She did. As Luke began to meditate, Rey did her best to follow his lead. Shutting her eyes, Rey breathed in slowly but purposefully through the nose, and out through the mouth, as Luke did. To her surprise, she found herself easing into it rather quickly. Whether that was because of where she was, or just Luke's teaching (or both), was something Rey didn't know. But in any case, the more she breathed in and out, the more her muscles relaxed, and the more Rey felt incredibly at peace as much physically as emotionally. All of the tenseness, all of the physical stress, all of the raised hairs on the back of her neck even, all of it just melted away like ice in the sun. An especially appropriate comparison, considering Rey was again feeling pleasantly warm despite being in a dark cave.

"You feel it, don't you?" Luke asked with a gentle smile.

"I do, Master Skywalker." Rey said with a smile of her own. "It feels...wonderful. Like I could just sit here all day."

Luke chuckled. "Yes, I've heard stories of some Jedi who spent nearly _all_ of their time in meditation. I though, always felt that a good balance between meditation and activity is more ideal."

"I understand." Rey said with a nod. "The Galaxy's a rough place. Can't just shut yourself out from it."

"No, you can't." Luke agreed. "And it's good you realize that. You're already well on your way to becoming a Jedi, Rey."

"Thank you, Master Skywalker."

The two meditated in the crystal cave for some moments more, before Luke Skywalker finally got up and beckoned Rey to follow him. She did, and he led her to another part of the cave. He looked at her long and hard and said: "When we first met, you returned my first lightsaber to me."

Rey nodded. "Yes. Because it was yours, and it belonged to you."

"And I had told you to keep it. But, I do also recognize that it would do you good to construct your own lightsaber, simply to have that experience, and have a lightsaber to call your own and only your own." Stepping to one side, Luke revealed several components that Rey deduced very quickly were different pieces of lightsabers.

"The time has come, apprentice. You must construct a lightsaber from the materials here. The final piece, will of course be the crystal itself. Choose the pieces of the hilt first, and then the other interior mechanics, and finally, we can select a crystal for you."

Rey nodded. "Yes, Master Skywalker."

So Rey sat down and looked at the different hilt pieces in front of her. She decided quickly against some of the more spiky, sharp, or pointed pieces, finding them too intimidating or violent to suit her personality, instead favoring a bottom that was a small, silver sphere, overall smooth handle pieces, and the upper hilt decorative feature was an inwards facing metal "hook" with a dulled tip. Stylish and eye-catching, but not overly hostile or aggressive. Just how Rey liked it.

For all of that though, Rey _had_ given some thought to constructing a double-bladed lightsaber, as such a long-handle weapon that was lethal on both ends did not seem to her entirely different from the metal staff she'd used up to that point. It could end up fitting her combat style better than a regular lightsaber, despite the weapon being seen as inherently aggressive and violent, and associated much more with the Sith than the Jedi. But even in spite of that, numerous Jedi throughout the history of the order had used the weapon, as Rey had learned in her studies with Luke. Such names as Bastila Shan, Satele Shan, the Barsen'thor, (all women, Rey happily noted), plus the Jedi Temple Guards and Jedi Brutes that guarded the Jedi Temple during the last centuries of the Old Republic. If all of them could use the weapon whilst maintaining a passive or serene personality, who was to say that Rey could not?

Of course, Rey's studies under Luke had _also_ taught her that double-bladed lightsabers were traditionally harder to master. Merely being able to use one indicated, if not necessarily a master duelist, someone whose skill was not insubstantial or anything to sneeze at. But then in that case, perhaps a Lightsaber Pike? That too was long-handled and in fact built essentially like a staff...just one that had a lightsaber blade coming out of it.

Rey decided to ask Luke, who simply told her that she needed to decide for herself which lightsaber type would suit her the best. With this in mind, Rey decided to build a double-bladed lightsaber, but kept the hilt of her would-be single-blade intact just in case.

Next, Rey set about designing a double-bladed lightsaber hilt that was far less sleek in design than her single-blade hilt; a mix of pale and dark gray, and with a pronounced upwards-facing cup-guard over one of the ends (a wide emitter shroud, in actuality). Rey next began selecting the proper internal mechanisms: the energy modulation circuits, the blade energy channel, a crystal energy chamber, a focusing crystal activator, an energy gate, a power vortex ring, a diatium power cell, and more. Once all of this had been accomplished, all Rey needed was a crystal.

Approaching Luke, Rey showed him her selections. He looked over her work and gave a nod of approval. "Very good, Rey. I can see you've learned your lessons well. Now to the final thing that will bring it all together."

Without needing to so much as wave his hand, Luke telekinetically summoned a trio of kyber crystals, one blue, one green, one yellow.

"When Illum was discovered, the Jedi came to have that as their primary source of lightsaber crystals, and so nearly all of them were either green or blue, as all Illum kyber crystals are one of those two colors. But as you can see, on Ahch-To, yellow crystals exist as well. And in the early centuries of the Jedi Order, one's lightsaber crystal often spoke to the kind of Jedi one was."

Rey nodded, remembering more of the lessons Luke had taught her as she looked each of the crystals over. "Yes, blue is the color of the Jedi Guardian, green the Jedi Consular, and yellow the Jedi Sentinel. At least, before Illum."

"Yes, though even after Illum, the practice was not completely abandoned. Master Yoda for instance, is known to have described himself with pride as a Jedi Consular and wielded a green blade. And my own father was a Jedi Guardian before his fall to the Dark Side, as was his own master, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"So now I am to make the choice?" Rey asked. Luke nodded. "Perhaps, some questions to make the decision easier for you?"

"Questions?"

Luke nodded. "Your answers will give me some insight, and allow me to make my own recommendation. But remember, you can take my advice or leave it in this instance."

"I understand." Rey said. "I'm ready."

"Very well. First question: a woman and her child are being accosted by a group of thugs and you see it happen. What do you do?"

Rey didn't need to think hard about this one. She had always despised bullies of any sort (having certainly been victimized by them several times herself when younger), and she wouldn't hesitate when dealing with thugs attacking unarmed women and children. "I'd intervene. I'd attack the thugs and help the mother and her child flee."

Luke nodded. "Indeed...then here is the next question: you are in combat with someone aligned to the Dark Side of the Force…"

The moment Luke mentioned this, Rey immediately thought back to her duel against Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base, and with it the traumatic memories of seeing Han Solo murdered and Finn struck down. If Luke sensed the sudden and uncontrolled spike of anger inside Rey, he said nothing. Instead, he finished his hypothetical: "...and there is a pause in the fighting. What do you do?"

Rey was all set to answer "attack him again", but caught herself at the last moment. She realized that that was that spike of anger she associated with Kylo Ren talking, not a Jedi. A true Jedi, she reasoned, wouldn't necessarily be so quick to strike if their foe was hesitating. So instead, Rey decided to go for a more peaceful answer: "I maybe try to reason with him. Convince him to stand down."

Luke nodded and smiled at this. "Restrained. That's a good quality in a Jedi, and anyone for that matter. So to continue with the third question: "How would you bypass a locked door that stands between you and your objective?"

Rey smiled at this very innocent question. She was of half a mind to jokingly respond with "knock", but she knew that even with such a benign scenario she needed to answer honestly. She thought about it, and knowing herself and how she'd handled herself on Starkiller Base, answered: "I would try to find some way around the locked door, or failing that, try to force it open in some way, either by hacking the door, or cutting it down with my lightsaber."

"That last one could attract unwanted attention." Luke noted.

"I agree. That's why I'd only try to use it as a last resort. I'd much rather pick or hack the lock, or go around the door altogether."

"Yes, I thought as much. One final question then: imagine that you are the head of an enclave on a contested world…"

 _Hard to imagine that._ Rey thought, as she'd never had even the tiniest bit of authority in her life, let alone being the "head" of something. But even so, she still tried to envision the scenario as best she could as Luke continued: "...and the First Order have come and are causing unrest across the planet. How do you deal with the threat they pose?"

"How many of them are there?" Rey asked.

"Knowing the First Order, I'd imagine more than a few Stormtroopers." Luke said with a gentle smile. Rey nodded, and thought about it. Trying to just hunt them all down seemed like a waste of time and resources if there was so many of them and they were so widespread. But on the other hand, negotiation would never work. She considered trying to lure them into a trap...or perhaps attempting to get help. Ultimately, Rey answered with: "I would do my best to work with others to stop the First Order, or at least mitigate the damage they were causing."

"A solid answer." Luke said, before saying: "Well, based on your second and fourth answers, I would most identify you as being a Jedi Consular. And indeed, with your incredible affinity for the Force, you could potentially be a very great one."

Rey thought about it. She was willing to fight and stand up for herself and others, but all Jedi were. But Jedi Consulars tried to avoid violence even more, and focused more on their affinity for the Force. For fighting and combat if necessary, but ideally for serenity and negotiation and compromise. Rey considered her own nature: she had been filled with anger and hatred towards Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base, and towards others before that. But remembering that fight with the fallen son of Han and Leia left a bitter taste in her mouth, like an adult remembering their cruelties as a child, or someone wishing to take back harsh words or deeds they should have never indulged in. No, that sort of fury wasn't who Rey was. When she thought of who she was, she thought more of her first meeting with the droid BB-8, and her choosing not to sell him even when it would have been in her best interests to do so. She thought about how life on Jakku _should_ have stamped out anything like warmth, or compassion, or humanity, but Rey's heart had remained kind and gentle, and been left unpoisoned. She thought about her bonding with Finn and Han before the latter's death and the former's being left close to it.

She nodded. _Yes, I think a Jedi Consular suits me just fine._

"I agree, Master Skywalker." She said. "I think I'd do best as a Jedi Consular too."

"Good. Then select the green crystal."

Rey was all set to, but then she noticed something that caught her eye: crystals within the cave that were neither blue, green, nor yellow. Some of them were an amethyst purple. Intrigued by this, Rey asked: "Master Skywalker...those amethyst crystals...those weren't for a particular kind of Jedi, were they?"

"Well, yes, actually they were. But not one of the three specializations." Using telekinesis (again without having to raise an arm or flick a wrist), Luke summoned one of the amethyst crystals, the jewel floating in-between him and Rey. "These kinds of crystals are especially rare. Barring synthetic lightsaber crystals used by the Sith that are made purple on purpose, the only other kind is the Solari Crystal."

"And I take it that's a Solari Crystal?"

Luke nodded. "Yes. You almost never see these outside of Ach-To. Mace Windu's lightsaber crystal was one of the exceptions. They're attuned to the Light Side of the Force, so only one who is firmly committed to the Light Side can use them. In the hands of anyone else, the lightsaber blade will not turn on." Luke took the floating amethyst crystal in hand and held it out to Rey. "You may have this Solari Crystal, if you wish."

Rey bit her lip and looked at the crystal nervously. "I...I don't know. If what you just said is true, I'm not sure I'm worthy of it…"

"Nevertheless, you may have it if you wish. If you are not worthy of it this moment, you may become so later. And such crystals have no value to anyone but a Jedi. There's little harm in having it."

Rey had to admit that Luke's reasoning was sound. So it was that she took the Solari Crystal from him and pocketed it. Once she did, she took the green crystal to use in the meantime.

"I'm ready, Master."

Luke nodded. "Good." As Rey began using the Force to put the crystal inside it's container and then assemble the rest of the lightsaber, Luke continued: "As Master Luminara Unduli once taught: the crystal is the heart of the blade, the heart is the crystal of the Jedi, the Jedi is the crystal of the Force, and the Force is the blade of the heart. All are intertwined: the crystal, the blade, and the Jedi."

No sooner had Luke finished saying this did Rey finish assembling her double-bladed lightsaber. It floated for only a moment more before she nervously touched it, feeling the cool metal in her small hands. She pressed a button, and a green blade the color of a summer meadow sprang out. The second green blade followed shortly after.

"Congratulations, Rey. You've just taken one of the most important steps towards becoming a Jedi."

 **Author's Note: It's telling that, for all my being such a die-hard Star Wars fan and having been one since Elementary school, I still can't quite describe the Force exactly as I would want to, but I think I did a decent enough job in Luke's nuggets of wisdom to Rey.**

 **Plenty of KotoR references here, obviously. What can I say? I love KotoR to death and beyond. Best. Star Wars game. Ever. I have a reference to the Genndy Tartakovsky Star Wars the Clone Wars cartoon in here too.**

 **Also, for the record, Mace Windu's lightsaber crystal in Legends is _not_ a Solari crystal, nor are Solari crystals in Legends necessarily purple. That was something I did here on purpose to make this story's canon stand out from Legends. After all, Disney's canon has many differences from Legends (in Disney's canon for instance, ALL lightsaber crystals are now called "Kyber Crystals"). So I figured it could be a clever idea to explain the relative scarcity of purple lightsabers as well as explaining why they don't fit into the color system the Jedi have for blue, green, and yellow crystals. Because they're the ultra-rare, "for the Light Side only", Solari Crystal.**

 **More trivia:**

 **Every last one of the parts I listed off is an actual component in a Jedi's lightsaber.**

 **The "Jedi Brutes" mentioned here were one of the enemy archetypes in the 2005 Revenge of the Sith video game (which was great by the way). They were big, blue skinned aliens that all used double-bladed lightsabers and were quite the formidable challenge. While parts of the 2005 RotS game are not canon with either Disney or Legends, the Jedi Brutes are confirmed to be a part of Legends, also being briefly mentioned/referenced in the "Path of the Jedi" handbook. Also, a named Jedi from the Star Wars comic "Purge" looks exactly like one.**

 **The Barsen'thor is the title given to the Jedi Consular character in Star Wars: The Old Republic, and said character can be male or female. That's why Rey noted she was a woman along with Satele Shan from the same game and Bastila Shan of KotoR fame.**

 **When Luke mentions "synthetic crystals made purple", that is in reference to how synthetic lightsaber crystals need not necessarily be red; it's just they come out red by default, and the Sith have embraced it as a signature. But they _can_ be made a different color if the creator desires it, and in fact that is Luke's green lightsaber crystal; it's a synthetic crystal he made green, because he had no access to natural crystals when making his second lightsaber. **

**Luke's noting that he _has_ flirted with the Dark Side here, is a reference to the Legends story Dark Empire where Luke does indeed flirt with the Dark Side and comes close to succumbing to it before catching himself with help from his sister. That story didn't necessarily happen here, but some aspects of it might have...**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Many Meetings

 _Kamino_

"I hate this weather." Poe Dameron remarked as he continued to pull his parka tighter around his person, as well as pulling down hard on his hood that was actually a bit oversized.

"Pretty sure you've said that already."

"Well, it's still true." Poe grumbled in the face of his companion's deadpan remark. Poe and Finn had been sent to the water-world to investigate reports that a new clone army was in development, this time _without_ a Jedi/Sith conspiracy at the heart of it...or so everyone hoped. In any case, whether or not the clone army itself was real was what needed to be verified. And so far, all Poe and Finn had encountered was rain, water, and more rain.

Records of Kamino indicated that the planet had gone dark during Palpatine's reign. Most assumed that he'd wiped the species out after they'd outlived their usefulness, but the fact that clone soldiers for the Empire persisted (if not also becoming less common), indicated that at least _some_ Kaminoan cloning facilities were kept active, and indeed, the place Finn and Poe were at currently, Tipoca City, looked as though it had never been abandoned. All of the buildings were well-maintained, the lights were on, but they'd been searching all of the platforms and exteriors in vain for any sign of a greeting or welcoming committee. And without any in sight, they had no way of getting in past the locked doors.

Finn shook his head. "I don't like this. No way this place is deserted. That means whoever's here is hiding."

"Not sure why." Poe grumbled. "I mean it's not like we're a First Order Stormtrooper amy….unless of course, these guys are _working_ for the First Order to give them a new clone army."

"I don't think so." Finn said, remembering as he did his own Stormtrooper origins and training. "General Hux and many of the officers staked their careers on non-clone soldiers, insisting that troopers raised from infancy to fight and kill for the First Order would be better. Don't see them switching gears now all of a sudden."

Poe frowned. Finn made a good point, and as a former First Order Stormtrooper, he was in the best position to know. But that still didn't answer the question of the seemingly deserted but still clearly functional Tipoca City. Where the hell _was_ everybody?

The pair's wandering about almost aimlessly was interrupted by the sight of several small figures flying in. It soon became clear that they were armored men with jetpacks, and as they got closer, Finn got a better look at them, remembered one of the few lessons he'd ever paid attention to during his formative years, and shouted at Poe to hit the dirt.

Sure enough, as the Mandalorians got closer, they unleashed a payload of rockets and small missiles, but not at Finn or Poe's positions. Instead, at seemingly empty areas of space that in fact blew away armored men with cloaking devices. Yet more men uncloaked themselves, and began to return fire. At the same time, almost out of nowhere, a smaller group of Mandalorians with different colors appeared, these ones leading a very, very large number of white armored men with helmets that looked a bit like Stomtrooper helmets but with a pronounced crest and a "t" visor, as well as olive green stripes running down the arms and front of the helmet. Both these men, and their apparent Mandalorian leaders, were all equipped with jetpacks, and all of them were airborne and with weapons raised.

"Open fire!"

A withering hailstorm of blue blaster bolts were unleashed, and the Mandalorians returned fire with mostly red ones, and all hell broke loose. As the shooting rapidly intensified and shot bodies started to fall from the sky, Finn turned to Poe: "Well, it looks like that clone army was real after all."

 _Ach-To_

Luke sat in deep and patient meditation. Rey had retired for the day, and now Luke was in isolation within the crystal cave. His solitude didn't last though.

" _Luke…."_

Luke opened his eyes and saw a quintet of glowing blue and silver apparitions in front of him. He recognized the three in the center as old family long gone: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and his father Anakin Skywalker. Off to one side of this trio was Jedi Master Mace Windu, whose visage remained grim and stoic even so many years after his terrible death and finding peace in the Light Side of the Force. Last of the five, to the left of his father and two late masters, was one of the most noteworthy Jedi to achieve the state of Force Ghost, and the first one to do it after the knowledge had been believed lost; Qui-Gon Jinn.

"Masters…" Luke said.

 _"We still sense much pain in your heart."_ Yoda noted.

Luke nodded solemnly. "Yes, I confess there still is. Even after Rey came to me to be trained…"

 _"You still blame yourself for what happened."_ Anakin noted, his tone managing to be even more empathetic not only for his particular connection to Luke, but also because he knew better than the others what it was like to feel guilt.

 _"There's nothing more you could have done, Luke."_ Obi-Wan pointed out, echoing what he had told Luke on Tatooine almost thirty-five years ago. _"That boy made his choice."_

Yoda nodded in agreement. " _Right, Master Kenobi is. Influence a Jedi's decisions, the Sith and the Dark Side can. But force or make a Jedi turn, they cannot. Their own choice to turn or not, it is."_

Luke sighed deeply. "I know, Master Yoda. But the pain in my heart hasn't left. It's...difficult to let go."

" _Why Jedi do not form attachments, this is."_ Yoda's apparition pointed out sternly. Mace Windu's nodded in silent agreement, before speaking: " _You're abandoning of that tenet of the Jedi Order, and allowing love and families within the Jedi's ranks once more, was a dangerous gamble on your part. You know that attachment, and clinging to people and things beyond their time, is to put your selfish needs ahead of the Force."_

"Forgive me, Master Windu, but I disagree. Wishing to remember a lost loved one fondly, or keep one's memory alive, is not selfish. Much less a guarantee that one will fall to the Dark Side."

" _Perhaps not."_ Mace Windu conceded, surprising Luke with his willingness to acknowledge an argument that dared to challenge longstanding Jedi dogma. "... _but your attachments **have** caused you much pain. This much you cannot deny."_

 _"Though they have also brought him and his family great joy, Master Windu."_ Qui-Gon's spirit pointed out gently, also shooting a look over to Anakin as he did. " _...and allowed the Chosen One to return to the Light Side."_

" _But vigilant, you must remain."_ Yoda cautioned. " _Carry more risk, more attachments do. And turn into anger, grief can."_ The diminutive spirit, who glowed more brightly than any of the others, shook his head and shut his eyes as he did, like a disturbed beast trying to shake off little pests on it's fur. " _Never forget, your failure at the cave."_

"I won't, Master Yoda. And it is not so much anger I feel towards my nephew. It's towards myself for what's happened."

" _We can all sense that anger."_ Anakin pointed out. _"A part of you feels abandoned, even by the Force."_

 _"The Force will always be with you."_ Obi-Wan reminded him. _"I told you that many years ago."_

 _"You must not use anger to bury your feelings of guilt."_ Qui-Gon pointed out. _"And you must not despair. The forces of the Dark Side have grown strong again, and only the Jedi can return balance to the Force."_

Yoda's spirit nodded vigorously. " _A fully trained Jedi, your padawan must become."_

"She is not yet ready to face the Jedi Trials, Master Yoda."

" _Ready she must become. And soon."_

 _"Master Yoda is right."_ Came a new voice that belonged to none of the five Force spirits in front of him. Looking around for the source, Luke saw a new spirit materialize. Luke recognized the ghostly blue figure as another legendary Jedi of old, one long dead before even Yoda was born; his apparition's form resembled the dark robes and armor he'd worn as both a Sith Lord and a redeemed Jedi, but sans the distinctive mask. He was Revan.

" _The First Order is not the only threat to the Galaxy right now. Older evils just as fearsome are rising again. Older evils I did my best to contain or destroy in life, but remnants still remain so many centuries later. They will need to be dealt with."_

"What kind of 'older evils', Master Revan?"

" _Kylo Ren has been collecting the holocrons of Ancient Sith Lords. Accumulating knowledge. He has no idea what kind of power he's playing with. I regret to say that his 'collection' has long since come to include the holocrons **I** made during my more…'misguided' years. Simply put, if he's accessed my Sith Holocrons, he could learn about the Mass Shadow Generator."_

"I know of that superweapon." Luke said grimly. "It was destroyed by Meetra Surik, but…"

" _...the schematics are still in my Sith holocrons_. _He could build a new one. And with over a thousand years of technological advancement, he and the First Order could make it bigger, stronger, and more powerful than ever. Where once it could devastate **one** world, they could make one that does what Starkiller Base did: destroy several planets in one fell swoop."_

"If the situation is as grave as you say, then the Resistance must be warned...and _I_ must finally leave my exile."

 _"Take your padawan with you, you must."_ Yoda urged. _"Needed, all Jedi will be."_

 _"Master Yoda's right, son."_ Anakin's apparition said. " _More Jedi the merrier. And besides, **I** became a Jedi Knight in a more unorthodox way; by suffering and triumphing during the early part of the Clone Wars. I hate to say it, but sometimes, war and conflict can be excellent teachers."_

 _"While I am not inclined to agree with Skywalker's way of putting it, it is true that Rey's assistance in the challenges to come could prove a sufficient substitute to the formal Jedi Trials."_ Mace Windu said.

"She's not ready, Masters…"

" _You cannot shield her forever."_ Obi-Wan pointed out. " _She must be allowed to experience the full demands of being a Jedi, if she is to become one."_

Luke nodded. "Yes, you're...right. Forgive me, Masters. I just...I just don't want to send anymore young Jedi to their deaths."

" _The Jedi have long given their lives in service to the Force."_ Qui-Gon pointed out, himself an example of his own statement.

"True, but there's a difference between necessary sacrifice and needless waste of life. Even if Rey's fate is to die, I do not want the latter fate for her."

" _Regardless, you must bring her with you."_ Revan urged. _"And besides, if Kylo Ren builds a new Mass Shadow Generator, there is nowhere your padawan will be able to go that will be safe."_

 _Byss_

During the days of the Empire, Byss had become a favorite planet of Emperor Palpatine. In the days of the Old Republic, it was something of a "resort world", looking much like Naboo or Scariff, but having become essentially a place where the rich could go to relax and unwind, along with anyone else who had the time and the credits for a brief trip. A place of crystal blue skies and oceans, white sand-beaches, rolling green pastures, all the familiar tropes that made scenery artists across the galaxy their livelihood.

Suffice to say, after Emperor Palpatine made it _his_ resort, the planet…"changed". Namely, that at this particular point in time, when Kylo Ren meditated on it's barren surface, there was not a single living thing on the planet left.

 _Such power…_ Kylo Ren mused as he continued his meditations. _...to suck dry the life forces of an entire planet's population. Such a mastery of Force Drain is almost unprecedented. I **must** learn to have such power for myself…_

" _You meditate for so long, and yet you are no closer to your goals_." admonished one of the Sith holocrons that had been laid out by Kylo Ren along with others in a circle in front of him. This particular holocron belonged to the Ancient Sith Lord Naga Sadow, a tall and imposing figure who dressed in very regal robes and jewel-encrusted armor and headdress. A far cry from the mostly black garments of Sith Lords of later generations.

"I bask in the power of this place." Kylo Ren said simply. "I find the surge of Dark Side energy invigorating."

 _"You've been growing stronger ever since Starkiller Base._ " noted another of the holocrons, this one being the black leather-clad and grimly masked form of Tulak Hord, a virtuoso of melee combat even in comparison to other Ancient Sith Lords.

"Yes. I am now free of weakness. My father's death has seen to that."

" _Don't be foolish, boy_." Admonished the holocron of another of the best lightsaber duelists in the Sith Order's history, Darth Tyranus, also known as Count Dooku of Serenno.

" _...no one is without weakness. Save perhaps Darth Sidious, and even **he** was overthrown in the end. Do not let your pride doom you as it has doomed so many of us in the past."_

But Kylo Ren was unmoved by the count's warnings. "I'm as strong in the darkness as I ever was. And with everything I've learned from your holocron and others, I will only become stronger still. _Especially_ with what I've learned from Darth Revan's holocrons: the schematics for the Mass Shadow Generator."

" _That superweapon is not easily built._ " Darth Revan's holocron cautioned, his masked face betraying no facial expression of concern or caution. " _It takes time and proper resources to build, not to mention a team of trained, expert engineers who know what they're doing. It is also not a toy_."

" _Do not speak to me like a child!_ " Kylo Ren snarled, anger replacing his usual ice-cold tone of voice.

" _Your impetuousness and petulance are the marks of one."_ Darth Tyranus' holocron noted distastefully. " _And don't think we don't know about those childish temper tantrums you throw when things don't go your way. You'd never see **me** lower myself to behaving in such a way."_

At this, Kylo Ren sprang to his feet, drawing his new crossguard lightsaber that's red blades were far more stable and less fiery, a side-effect of the new lightsaber's superior construction.

"Be mindful how you speak to me." Kylo Ren snarled. "I will not be belittled or patronized by you."

 _"Lords Tyranus and Revan only wish to steer you towards the correct course."_ Suggested the holocron of Darth Vectivus, a Sith who dressed in fairly nondescript black robes with a hood that made him look almost like a younger Darth Sidious. He was far more civil and fair-minded than Sidious though, and for that matter, most others who called themselves a Sith Lord. Truth be told, Kylo Ren often found it amazing that such a restrained, honorable, and in his mind soft-hearted man could ever be worthy of the title. And yet the other master's holocrons treated him with the respect that was due his rank anyway, which Kylo Ren never understood.

"I _will_ make a new Mass Shadow Generator, and I _will_ use it." Kylo Ren growled, still holding his activated lightsaber in hand. "Resources and engineers are nothing to the First Order. As they built Starkiller Base, so too can they build a new Mass Shadow Generator."

" _Be warned, big weapons are big targets."_ Tulak Hord's' holocron cautioned. " _Why do you think the Star Forge, the original Mass Shadow Generator, both of the Death Stars, **and** Starkiller Base all met explosive ends? That's why I never got into them myself. Great big waste of time, if you ask me."_

 _"I concur."_ Said the holocron of Darth Vectivus. " _The Sith Order ought to be treated like a business, and the Dark Side of the Force a wise investment to be treated with care. Not a hammer with which to bludgeon any who irritates you."_

" _Such a passive attitude would never let us triumph over the Jedi."_ Naga Sadow's holocron hissed. " ** _I_** _for one admire the boy's boldness and determination."_

 _"As do I."_ Spoke the holocron of Darth Bane, who's holographic image had been silent up to that point. " _But remember, boy, if the Sith are to continue, you **must** find yourself a proper Apprentice. Always two there must be. No more, no less. A master to embody the power…"_

 _"_...and an apprentice to crave it, yes, yes I know."

" _Do not mock us, boy."_ Darth Bane's holocron warned. " _You are where you are now only because of our guidance."_

"I am fully intending to get an apprentice for myself." Kylo Ren said irritably. "In fact, I already have a good idea of who I want."

" _Who?"_ asked Darth Tyranus' holocron with a raised eyebrow.

Kylo Ren smiled simply. "That is for _me_ to know."

 **Author's Note: Once again, Legends Sith referenced here. Also the Star Forge and Mass Shadow Generator from KotoR I and KotoR II, respectively. You've probably cottoned on by now, that the events of the KotoR games (or some version of them anyway), happened in this Star Wars continuity. Again, blend of Disney and Legends canons here.**

 **You know, I really have to say that Count Dooku's holocron's opinions on Kylo Ren kind of reflect my own. I don't hate the character the way some people do, but I definitely don't consider him the best SW villain since Vader the way his biggest fans seem to. No, he's a decent villain in my mind. One who needs to stop having the childish temper tantrums because they make him look pathetic and weak, which is not at all how a Dark Side Big Bad should look, especially not one who's trying to be the new Vader. Say what you will about the Prequels, but Dooku (and Maul and Grievous), are all much better villains than Kylo Ren. Again, Dooku's holocron sums it up: you never saw _him_ throwing the childish temper tantrums. **

**And no, I don't consider Kylo Ren killing his own father to automatically make him an A-List villain (to nip that annoying argument from Kylo fans in the bud), because I don't judge villains solely by just how evil they are.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Board set, pieces moved

 _Kamino_

As red and blue blaster bolts continued to streak through the rain-soaked afternoon like so many scarlet and azure lances, Finn and Poe were really just doing their best to survive; ducking, dodging, diving for cover after cover as all the while the two groups of armored men and women continued to shoot at one another. The occasional rocket impact that sent up a massive amount of fire and smoke certainly didn't do much to help matters.

"Any idea of whose side we should take?" Poe asked as he and Finn hid behind their latest piece of cover. A shot-out-of-the-sky Mandalorian landing not too far from them, gave them both an extra jolt of panic before Finn answered in an exasperated tone: "Yeah. _Ours_."

However, at that moment, the two were yanked from behind cover by a pair of Mandalorians, one a female in violet purple body glove and silver armor, and the other a male in mostly black with some red, including a helmet that's t-visor design was stylized to look like a skull.

"Who are you two?" The female demanded. "What are you doing here?"

"Poe Dameron and Finn of the Resistance, ma'am." Poe answered nervously. "We came here looking for a clone army."

"Well, you found it." The male Mandalorian said simply.

"What's going on here?" Finn asked. "I mean, who are you people? And why are you all shooting at each-other?"

The female Mandalorian turned to face Finn. "Now's not the time to answer questions. Zat will get you two to safety, and if we all survive this, we'll talk later."

"And what are _you_ going to do!?" Finn demanded incredulously.

The female Mandalorian stopped and shot a brief look back at him. "What Mandalorians do best: _fight_."

And with this simple parting line, the female Mandalorian had taken off on her jetpack, unloading a steady stream of blaster bolts on the Clone Troopers that came flying in to meet her. More bodies fell from the sky along with the ever-persistent rain, and as the carnage continued, Poe turned to Finn: "So...do you think we should we help them?"

"No idea." Finn replied bluntly before adding: "But, going on my instinct, I think waiting this out is still the best way to go."

Poe shot a look back out at all the dead Clone Troopers and Mandalorians, at the still-raging shootout, and decided that Finn was probably right.

 _Ach-To_

Rey was awoken from sleep by her master's thoughts in her head, his own little way of urging her to come to him. A little miffed by his so freely intruding on her mind but also reasoning that a teacher had the right to summon his student (and also that his telepathic intrusions were far more pleasant than Kylo Ren's torture), Rey got up, dressed herself in the Jedi robes Luke had given her that were a blue tunic, black belt, gloves, and boots, and gray leggings, and went out to meet him, stopping only to take her weapons and gear with her. Meeting Luke outside, he turned to her and said simply: "It is good that you came, Rey. I'm afraid that your formal training may be cut short."

"What? Why?"

"Circumstances have forced my hand. I have...communicated, with some of the Jedi Masters of the past, including my father's spirit. They tell me that Kylo Ren has been collecting Sith holocrons. The ones of Darth Revan in particular could be used to build a superweapon of terrible power. He must be stopped before he can construct it."

"A superweapon? Like another Starkiller Base?"

"Something like that." Luke said grimly. "It's called 'The Mass Shadow Generator'. It ravaged an entire planet and everything near it. That was over a thousand years ago. With the advances in technology since then, the First Order could make it powerful enough to wipe out _several_ planets, just as Starkiller Base could."

"So we're leaving to stop them…" Rey said, catching on. Luke nodded. "We are, yes. But, there is one last order of business before we go: I cannot expect you to last without training you in how to properly wield a lightsaber." Pulling back part of his robe, Luke revealed on his belt the lightsaber he had built on Tatooine after losing his father's on Bespin (that lightsaber was on the opposite side of his belt and still hidden by his robe). Drawing the hilt, Luke activated the lightsaber, and a fountain of green light shot out.

"Double-bladed lightsabers are even harder to fight with effectively, so that means extra training will be required. But for now, I can at least teach you how to fight with a single blade."

Rey nodded her understanding. She might have built a double-bladed lightsaber, but that didn't mean she had to always fight with both blades activated.

"There are seven forms of lightsaber combat…" Luke began. "...and each of them has their own strengths and weaknesses. For now, I will instruct you in Forms I and VI, Shii-Cho and Niman."

"Shii-Cho deals with the basics of lightsaber combat…" Rey noted, remembering the lessons Luke had already taught her. Recognizing this, he smiled and nodded. "Yes, that's correct. It's greatest strength lies in it's simplicity. Especially effective against multiple lightsaber blades and multiple opponents too."

"...and Niman is the 'diplomat's form'..." Rey said. "...the one Jedi choose when they wish to focus less on lightsaber combat, and more on other aspects of being a Jedi." Rey made a bemused smile. "Perfect for a Jedi Consular like me, I guess."

"Yes, and for a teacher pressed for time as far as training his student goes. But that does not mean that Niman is either ineffective as a combat form, _or_ effortless to master. So be sure to study both myself, and the holocrons I've found on saber combat, closely."

Rey nodded respectfully, and then drew her double-saber and activated one of it's blades. "I'm ready, Master Skywalker."

Nodding, Luke gave her a traditional salute with the lightsaber that many professional duelists in older times gave before a battle. "Then the first lessons begin now."

 _Kamino_

Finally, the battle had ended with the Clone Troopers and the Mandalorians leading them going into full retreat. Watching them go, Zat and his purple companion turned to face Poe and Finn.

"So...you're Resistance huh? What brings you out here to Kamino?"

"That clone army you people were shooting at, actually." Finn answered honestly, still a bit shaken from having been caught in the crossfire of an intense shoot-out. He was still amazed that he wasn't used to it by now.

Poe elaborated: "We had heard rumors that a new clone army was being grown on Kamino. We were sent to verify those rumors, and also determine if the clone army was friend or foe."

"Neither, at the moment." The female Mandalorian said. "That clone army was made by a splinter group of Mandalorians who broke away from us, the _True_ Mandalorians. They believe that an army of clones of the greatest Mandalorian will be better than individuals. His own nature notwithstanding, our Mandalore disagrees with that."

"So...you're shooting at and killing each-other over a disagreement?" Finn asked.

"More than that. The renegades covet the Darksaber. A weapon that, if found by them, will cement their status as the rightful leaders of the Mandalorian people. As you can imagine, our Mandalore wishes to find it first, to maintain his authority. And _that_ is something he _will_ kill for. We were content to let the traitors play with the DNA of Jango Fett and build as many clones as they wanted, so long as they didn't force it on us or try to take over. But a challenge to lead, _that_ we will _not_ permit."

"And...what is this 'Darksaber', exactly?" Finn asked. "Is it like a lightsaber?"

"Yes. It's a one-of-a-kind lightsaber with a different-shaped hilt and blade, the latter of which is black with a white glow. That's what gives it it's name."

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that much." Finn said in a deadpan before asking: "So...if you or your 'Mandalore' finds the Darksaber first, what will happen to the renegades?"

The purple Mandalorian shrugged. "That depends on them. They can either recognize Mandalore's claim of legitimacy and bend knee, or they can be stubborn. But that would be a very unwise decision on their part. And our Mandalore is not the sentimental sort; once the renegades are wiped out, there will be no one to protect the clones of Jango Fett from him."

"And if they _do_ decide to bend knee, what happens then? You guys get a whole clone army to add to your forces?"

"Difficult to say. Of course, all of this presumes that _we_ are the ones who find the Darksaber, and not them."

"Well, that's all fascinating, really…" Poe said before turning to Finn. "Can we talk?"

Ushering Finn along into a corner away from the Mandalorians, he whispered to him: "We've stepped into something ugly here, but I have an idea…"

"I'm listening…"

"...if we help these Mandalorians get their 'Darksaber', we might be able to get them on our side. And after Starkiller Base destroyed almost all of the New Republic fleet, we're going to need all the manpower we can get."

"You want people like _them_ on our side?" Finn whispered harshly, also very nearly pointing at the Mandalorians to emphasize his point before catching himself. "They're killing each-other over the right to lead. When I was with the First Order, they _admired_ and praised societies like them. I don't trust these people."

"I know a bit about Mandalorians. They're dangerous, yeah, but they're supposed to have some honor. If we help them, I don't think they'll shoot us in the face."

"Well, 'supposed to' isn't good enough for me." Finn said with a frown. "Besides, what if we tried finding the Darksaber for the _other_ group? They've got an entire _clone army_ on their side. If we're going to help either of these groups, maybe it should be them."

"Maybe…" Poe said before looking out at all the bodies that still littered the platforms of Tipoca City's exterior. "...but from where I'm standing, these Mandalorians killed way more of them than the other way around. They may not have the numbers, but they also don't seem to need them. One of these Mandalorians looks like he's worth about ten Clone Troopers. Five at the least."

"Well, either way, how would we even know where to look for this 'Darksaber'? We don't know where it is! And, I _still_ don't trust them."

"What's so private that you two insist on such a lengthy conversation?" The female Mandalorian asked as she walked up to them. Finn looked at Poe, and he answered: "The Resistance may be willing to assist you in your search for the Darksaber…"

"... _if_ we agree to help you against the First Order." The Mandalorian finished, catching on. "How predictable. You realize, that that will be Mandalore's decision? I cannot make choices for him. Having said that, I can try to put in a good word for you if you help us, and I will also gladly assist you against the First Order, and so will the warriors under my direct command. You don't even need to ask."

"That's...good to know." Finn said.

"Don't sound so surprised…" The Mandalorian said before taking her helmet off to reveal an attractive face of fair skin and dark brown hair and eyes. In fact, eyes and a face that almost reminded Poe Dameron of…

"...I _am_ my mother's daughter, after all." She held out a hand. "Jaina Solo. Pleased to meet you."

 _Ach-To_

Because they were, as Luke had pointed out, pressed for time, he would spare only three days of lightsaber training on Ach-To. The rest would have to be taught along the way. For that reason, Luke compensated by ensuring that as much practice could be done as possible in those three days. Rey was trained vigorously in Shii-Cho and Niman, and in the process forced to concede in full that her master had not been lying or exaggerating, when he said that Forms I and VI's relative simplicity and ease of mastery compared to other forms did _not_ make them effortless to learn. That Luke was clearly determined to ensure that Rey would be more skilled than a rank-and-file Jedi probably contributed to this also.

For her part, Rey now had multiple burns from training sabers all over her body. Luke would use Force Heal to get rid of the burns as though they'd never even been there, allow her some time to rest, and then would send her right back into the fray again. But even with the training saber injuries healed, Rey's muscles were sore, she was perpetually gasping for breath, and both the blue Jedi robes she'd been given by Luke, and the clothes she had worn when she'd first come to Ach-To, were now soaked from sweat all the way through.

"How…" Rey gasped and tried to suck in more air, which stung her lungs like a sword stab. She promptly exhaled and gasped out spittle and breath. "...how much more must I do, Master?"

"Relax, Rey. I won't push you until you drop dead. I think you've done enough for today. You can rest on the journey tomorrow. Then, I start training you more in how to hone your Force power."

Rey nodded. "Yes, Master Skywalker. And thank you."

Rey deactivated her double-saber and promptly collapsed, looking out at the training droid she'd finally managed to leave in pieces. Luke didn't exactly have such training droids growing on trees, something he'd even told her verbatim. So therefore only some of her training had involved the droid. Much of the rest had been either Rey watching and doing her best to follow the instructions of the holocrons of such Jedi as Cin Drallig, Kit Fisto, and Revan (the latter two experts in Forms I and VI respectively), or sparring with Luke himself. The Jedi Master went as easy on her as he could and still disarmed her in just a few moves so many times Rey had lost count.

"Was it this hard for _you_ when you learned how to fight with a lightsaber?" Rey asked.

"Absolutely." Luke answered. The utter lack of hesitation told Rey he was again not exaggerating. "Master Obi-Wan was only able to teach me very briefly the basics of lightsaber deflection, and it took me more than a few tries to get even _that_ right. When I studied under Master Yoda, he taught me Ataru mostly, but I also picked up knowledge in Djem So. I've since made my own personal variant of the latter. It's unique to me. And _that_ was something I did on my own, which took an entire year."

"You told me that Vader beat you the first time, and then you bested him the second time...you grew so much in just one year…"

"I had already had weeks of training by then, _and_ nurtured my connection to the Force, which helped immensely. Don't get discouraged, Rey. You've only been practicing for three days...and, you _did_ manage to decapitate the training droid."

"After six attempts." Rey said, before adding off-handedly and sourly: "...I kept track."

"It's taken some Jedi _sixteen_ attempts. Or more." Luke pointed out with a gentle smile.

"Good to know." Rey said somewhat sarcastically before finally she willed herself to get back up. If nothing else, she wanted to get out of her clothes, wash herself clean, and get into something more comfortable for a hopefully _very_ long rest.

"All I know is, if we see any Knights of Ren, I'm letting _you_ duel them. I'll just stick to Force power."

"A proper Jedi shouldn't ever neglect one in favor of the other." Luke reminded her. "Too many Jedi over the years did, and it often cost them. The greatest Jedi usually balanced skill and power, whether they were Jedi Sentinels or not. You may have chosen the path of a Jedi Consular, Rey, but no student of mine is going to come out a shoddy or sub-par duelist. Not a chance." He smiled despite the firmness in his words. "Don't worry, Rey. When I'm done training you, lightsaber dueling will be all but second nature to you...and, hopefully, you'll never have to use it."

 _The Imperialist_

Kylo Ren paced back and forth unsteadily. He resented the fact that he could feel so intimidated, especially when he knew every last one of Solomonanta Ren's acolytes and glorified slaves, would gleefully drink up every last drop of the insecurity he radiated like it was fine Tarisian Ale. To say nothing for the man himself.

Solomonanta Ren was one of the oldest, and greatest, of all the Knights of Ren. He was actually _not_ the highest ranked member of the organization (that was Kylo Ren himself), but because he was well-known as the most powerful, he was often respected as though he _were_ second-in-command. What few Knights of Ren surpassed him in rank often didn't have the nerve to try and enforce their desires on him (Kylo Ren included), especially when he had already clawed his way to the top over the bodies of numerous other Knights of Ren, a practice taken from the Sith that Supreme Leader Snoke held in high esteem, when it yielded strong Knights instead of just pointless infighting. Even when the latter happened, Snoke was often still willing to live with it, if he got Knights of Ren like Solomonanta out of the deal.

And he _was_ the most powerful. Not the most skilled in dueling, not the physically strongest, and not even necessarily the most knowledgeable. But he _was_ the most powerful. As he was so often fond of reminding his fellows: "Rank is meaningless. It is one's power and skill that count."

So it was that Kylo Ren knew better than to trifle with Solomonanta. A true Sith might not have any fear, and Kylo Ren was determined to be the same, but he was no fool. Practical caution and not picking pointless, hopeless fights were virtues in any man, whether aligned with the Dark Side or not. Though, privately, he did resent that any lower-ranked Knight of Ren had any influence over him.

After a few moments more of waiting, Solomonanta Ren finally saw fit to reveal himself. He strode down the ramp to confront Kylo Ren directly. Like all Knights of Ren (and most devotees of the Dark Side in general), he dressed in chiefly black garments, though his tunic was actually chiefly crimson, and his shoulder pauldrons a silver-steel color. The helmet he held under one arm was the same as the pauldrons, all of them made from rare Mandalorian Beskar'gam. As he walked closer, Kylo Ren paid special attention to how the man's shoulders were not perfectly parallel to one another, a side-effect of his back bone being shaped like a small hill turned on it's side. Such a condition didn't actually do anything to hinder his combat prowess in the slightest, except perhaps when wearing armor over his robes, and even then he could still walk away from battles a winner. If fighting in armor with his body put a serious strain on his heart, Kylo Ren had not witnessed it firsthand.

"Kylo Ren." Solomonanta greeted coldly. Kylo Ren's own tone was the same. "Solomonanta Ren."

"Do you know why you've been summoned here?"

"I assume it has to do with the Supreme Leader?"

"That is correct. You may remember that Snoke wished for you to return to him to complete your training. You neglected to do so."

"I was otherwise engaged with important matters." Kylo Ren answered, which actually wasn't a lie. He just neglected to mention what those "important matters" were. Luckily for him, Solomonanta didn't seem inclined to press that topic. He did, however, needle him over his excuse: "You should know by now, Kylo Ren, that our needs come second to the Supreme Leader's."

"A policy you hold yourself to as well, I'm sure."

Solomonanta's pale lips stretched into a cold smile, and his paler face was clearly struggling to maintain it's composure. But he didn't snap, as Kylo Ren assuredly would have if the roles had been reversed. Instead, he put his clawed gauntlet hand onto Kylo Ren's shoulder, ostensibly as a sign of empathy or to relax him (as putting a hand on one's shoulder so often did). But Kylo Ren could feel the razor-sharp claws threatening to puncture his clothes and dig into his skin.

"You know, Kylo Ren, I was once much as you are now; impetuous, impatient, eager to prove myself to be the best. But I learned the hard way to pick my battles carefully. I was not always as powerful as I am now. Some of my enemies I could not defeat immediately. I had to be _patient_. I had to wait until I had grown strong enough to conquer them."

"And then you did."

"Yes, I did." Solomonanta removed the claw gauntlet from Kylo Ren's shoulder. The gauntlet was a creation of Sith Alchemy, used to cover up Solomonanta's supposed "withered arm" that he had in addition to his misshapen back. Whether or not he really did have such a withered arm, or was merely creating a legend around his own weapon, was unclear.

"My point, Kylo Ren, is that defiance doesn't suit you. You should heed the Supreme Leader's commands, whether you have your own private agenda or not. There is a better time for calling a challenge."

Kylo Ren raised an eyebrow. "Are you encouraging me to overthrow the Supreme Leader at a later date?"

"Your words, not mine." Solomonanta said coyly, keeping up his thin smile. "I simply urge you to know the right time and place to be defiant or pick a fight. In any case, I was ordered to bring you to the Supreme Leader, and I intend to do exactly that. I suggest you make yourself comfortable."

The hunchback turned around at that moment and began to walk back to the bridge. Kylo Ren called out to him: "So...if I _were_ to turn on the Supreme Leader...could I trust you to back me? Perhaps we could form an allia-"

Kylo Ren stopped suddenly when he realized he was short of breath. In fact, he found himself unable to get any breath in at all. Soon, he was on his knees coughing, gagging, and desperately struggling to breath. Then all of at once, the invisible strangulation ceased and Kylo Ren hungrily took in air.

"Be careful not to... _choke_ on those ambitions of yours, _Ben Organa Solo._ "

 **Author's Note: Yes, that was a Rogue One reference at the end. My favorite line in the whole film (which was also an excellent Star Wars film as far as I'm concerned).**

 **And yes, Solomonanta Ren is based of Shakespeare's Richard III, one of the greatest villains ever made. His name is a reference to a Scholomance, which is supposedly a school of black magic run by the Devil. Perfect for a Dark Side devotee, wouldn't you say?**

 **And triple-yes, Jaina Solo now exists here, but is not meant to be the same as her Legends counterpart. She's more like her father in that she's the non-Force Sensitive in a family of powerful Force users. Although, I will imply that she maybe has _some_ Force sensitivity, but only enough to pull off some crazy blaster/physical feats, nothing like Force telekinesis, telepathy, or Force Barrier.**

 **Mandalorian Beskar'gam is what Mandalorian armor is called. Considered one of the only metals/armors in Star Wars that can stand up to lightsabers, though I can tell you that even then, Jedi with lightsabers have easily killed many a Mandalorian (just read Jango Fett: Open Seasons for proof).**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Past Specters

 _The Millennium Falcon_

"So where will we go first?" Rey asked.

"Dantooine." Luke answered. "Revan spent a great deal of time there as a Jedi. Much of his and Meetra Surik's efforts, including against the original Mass Shadow Generator, were recorded by the chronicler of the Jedi Academy that was there."

"Was?"

Luke nodded. "Yes. Today, only ruins remain of the Enclave on Dantooine. It's been that way ever since Darth Malak destroyed it over a thousand of years ago. But the archives were underneath the main building. They'd have been preserved. Of course, all the knowledge that was there was copied and contained in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, but those copies were largely destroyed during Palpatine's destruction of the Order. Try as I might, I could only recover so much, and what I did recover was incomplete. To get the full story, we need to go to Dantooine."

"Do you think the Knights of Ren will be thinking the same thing?"

"I hope not, but it is a risk. That's why we have to hurry."

Nodding her understanding, Rey had Chewbacca set a course for Dantooine, and the Falcon made the jump to lightspeed from Ach-To. Dantooine was sufficiently far anyway that the trip there could not be made in a single lightspeed jump, so Rey decided to rest in the meantime. She was still sore stiff from all the training she'd been doing recently, and she intended to take full advantage of the voyage's length. Setting herself up in part of the Falcon's cargo-hold, Rey shut her eyes…

 _A woman ran along, holding a small girl in her arms. She was attractive, and there was a gentle quality to her face, but her beauty was marred by fear and circumstance. She held onto the little girl tightly, the girl whimpering softly as the woman holding her continued to run. Running...running from something…_

 _Flashes of scarlet, of green, of amethyst. Lightsabers…_

 _A great and powerful weapon, hovering over a planet. Charging up...consumed in a bright light._

 _A dead, charred and broken world. A planet ravaged by death. A wound in the Force…_

"Rey! Rey!"

Rey awoke with a start. She brushed aside the visions and things she had seen, and they began to fade like an echo. "Yes, Master Skywalker?"

"We're here."

Rey nodded. She grabbed her doublesaber, as well as the blaster Han had given her. She left behind her staff and the single-bladed lightsaber that still did not have a crystal. As she did, she realized that she'd need to figure out what to do with the staff, since her double-saber ensured she no longer had much use for it. Attachment might be a long-frowned upon thing for a Jedi, but even so, Rey still had some sentimental feelings towards the weapon that had served her well for many years, and she didn't feel like it did any good to just throw it away.

 _I'll figure it out later. When the Galaxy's not in danger from a madman._ Rey decided resolutely before getting out of the Millennium Falcon with Luke, Chewbacca being left behind to keep an eye on the ship. Once she did, she could see laid out before her rolling hills and elevated plateaus of grass that turned fields into almost natural mazes. Atop some of these plateaus and moving about the browned grassy gnolls, were four-legged beasts with tails, pale gray fur, and fiery orange mane.

"Be careful, Rey. Those are Kath Hounds. Nasty animals. Best avoided."

Rey nodded her understanding, and she and Luke set out. They didn't need to navigate the "natural mazes" for very long before they came upon a metal bridge that had clearly seen better days, to the point that it was amazing the thing was still standing at all. That was what centuries of neglect would do to something after all.

Past the bridge, lay a mess of rubble that had once been a building, but now didn't look like much of anything. The pathways and courtyard that had once been an extension of the Jedi Enclave were mostly still intact, but the lack of any living presence gave the place a feeling of being like a husk. Rey could sense that there once was life here. Sunlight and beauty and the sense of peace and security that came from the Jedi having once had an enclave here, watching over the planet's people. Now, there were only ruins, just as Luke had said.

"It's so…" Rey shook her head.

"You feel it, don't you?"

Rey nodded. "I do, Master Skywalker. It feels so...sad here. So empty. I can feel that there was something beautiful here once, and now there's nothing."

"Not quite nothing, Rey. The secrets and knowledge of this place were much more well-preserved."

Rey nodded, and she followed Luke as he led her through the empty courtyard and path. The Jedi Master seemed to know exactly where he needed to go, and Rey was content to follow his lead. Eventually, after passing through what was once one of the entrances to the enclave, Luke led Rey through the ruins until they came to an old elevator taking them down into the sub-level.

"Amazed this old thing still works…" Rey noted.

"So am I." Luke admitted. "It could fail at any moment, but don't worry if it does; I can move us down with the Force if need be."

Rey nodded, and then fell into a pensive silence. Coming into the enclave's ruins, Rey had felt assaulted with an oppressive feeling of death, and entombment. She could sense that Jedi had perished here when Darth Malak had had the enclave bombarded. There were bones and mummified corpses here that had never been removed from this place. And thanks to her affinity for the Force, Rey sensed every bit of the death and despair that still permeated this place. Simply put, she had stepped into a great mausoleum, and the more that sunk in, the more Rey _almost_ missed being on Jakku. At least there she wasn't surrounded by corpses or felt buried alive.

"I sense your anxiety." Luke noted very calmly and matter-of-factly.

"I'm sorry, Master Skywalker." Rey said hurriedly. "It's just…" She shook her head. "I can't stand being surrounded by so much death."

"It is unpleasant." Luke agreed with a nod. "Where I a more 'orthodox' Jedi, I'd tell you that there's no such thing as death, only The Force. But I think we've all seen enough to know that that isn't true. There _is_ death...but there is also The Force."

Rey nodded. "I know, Master Skywalker. But it...it doesn't make it any easier…"

"Nor should it. A Jedi should never be too comfortable with death. Either those of their friends or those of their enemies. The Force is created by all living things, which are then sustained by the Force. Any loss of life, no matter how necessary, hurts that balance. I don't mourn people like Palpatine or other Sith, but I'm still conscious of that fact."

Almost impulsively, and without entirely understanding why she'd think to ask, Rey said: "What was he like? Palpatine, I mean. I...I had heard stories about the Emperor as well as ones about you and Darth Vader…"

Luke looked at Rey quizzically after she asked the question before answering simply: "That man was evil incarnate, Rey. I try to not to give up on any victim of the Dark Side, so I don't use the term 'irredeemable' lightly. But I believe that if ever there was a person who was, it would be the Emperor. He considered himself the 'purest manifestation of the Dark Side'. I would agree with that...but it's not something one should be proud of. He was sadistic, arrogant, and saw everyone else as only enemies or tools."

"Yes, that...that sounds like him from what I heard." She smiled softly. "I grew up with these sorts of stories, you know. I didn't have much else as a child. I always loved hearing the stories about you and the Jedi most of all."

At last, the elevator came to a stop. The thing had moved slowly, painfully slowly, on the account of old machinery. But, at least it hadn't broken off it's supports and plummeted. And now the two Jedi were at their destination.

The hallways of the Enclave sub-level were black as pitch, so Luke and Rey each ignited their lightsabers, bathing the hall they were in in green light that illuminated _just_ enough of the darkness, that they could see what was in front of them and where they were going. Truth be told, the green glow juxtaposed against the darkness created an eerie and unsettling effect to Rey's eyes, but she pushed those anxieties aside and kept walking along with Luke.

The walk through the hallways of the sub-level was slow going, and Rey found it a struggle to keep back fear and anxiety as they crept in all around her like the very darkness the glow of her lightsaber was trying to push back. All around her and Luke, they saw the skeletal remains of not just people but creatures of some sort that Rey couldn't identify. As if sensing her curiosity (in fact he almost certainly did), Luke said matter-of-factly: "Laigreks."

Luke's unexpected speaking almost caused Rey to jump out of her skin. "What…?"

"That's what these creatures are called. Laigreks. They used to live down here, before someone killed most of them, and the rest left when they ran out of flesh to feed on."

"Probably just as well…" Rey muttered. "I don't much fancy fighting anything in a place this dark and cramped."

"Your eyes can deceive you, Rey. Don't trust them." Luke said with a smile that Rey couldn't see.

"Isn't that what Master Kenobi told you once?"

"It is, and he was right. A proper Jedi trusts the Force over their eyes. You know there are stories of blind Jedi who's lack of physical sight made them hardly the lesser to any Jedi who still had it. All Miraluka are blind, you know. Never did them a lick of harm."

"Well, I'm not a Miraluka, and I'm still a Jedi in training. I can't fight what I can't see." Rey said with a frown.

If Luke was at all offended or perturbed by Rey's skeptical remark, he said nothing. Instead, the two walked a little further before Luke finally said: "We're here."

Facing Rey and Luke, illuminated by the green glow of their lightsabers, was a gate. The thing was sufficiently old and broken down, that only Force telekinesis could open it. The good news, was that Luke's power was such that a simple gesture effortlessly forced the doors to move as if their mechanisms still worked as perfectly as they did on their first day of use.

What they were greeted to was a library like the kind on the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, but far smaller. The place had a clear look of being long abandoned, but a quick look at the data shelves revealed their contents to still be intact; perfectly preserved from the elements for over a thousand years down in the safety of the darkness. Just as the designers of the enclave had intended. If nothing else would survive, at least the knowledge would.

However, sitting there, in a meditative posture, was a young man of fairly lean build, garbed in attire that looked vaguely like Jedi robes, but they also did not look very well maintained, and a tattered black cloak covered up most of them. Luke stopped short as he saw the man, eyes widening. "I don't believe it...Makr?"

Makr turned around and stood up to confront his former Jedi Master. Rey gasped as she saw that half of the man's face was horribly burned and scarred, likely from some sort of explosion or some other powerful force. The rest of his face besides actually looked healthy and handsome, if not also possessed of a lost and broken demeanor. One of his arms was clearly mechanical, and so was his other hand. He met Luke's gaze for only a moment before looking away. "Master Skywalker...what are you doing here?"

"I taught you better than that, Makr. Your senses should be sharp enough to answer your own question."

"You seek the knowledge of this place." Makr shook his head. "You're wasting your time."

"You mean there's nothing here we can use? We came all this way for nothing?"

Makr turned to look at Rey as she asked these questions. "Who is this? Another lamb you're going to lead to slaughter?"

"Leave my apprentice out of this, Makr. I can sense your anger and bitterness. Direct it against me, if you must. But not Rey."

"I can stand up for myself, Master Skywalker." Rey said, before turning to look at Makr. "He said he taught you...you were one of Master Skywalker's students!"

"I was. But there are no Jedi anymore. Just a few sad, broken has-beens like myself. And your 'master'."

"Master Skywalker isn't a 'has-been'! He's a great Jedi! Why didn't you stay to help him!"

"He pushed me away, girl. Just as he pushed away all of us after what happened."

"After what happened? You mean Kylo Ren's betraying you?"

Makr nodded. "Yeah, him. I knew him back when he was just 'Ben Solo'. _Ben Organa Solo_. Amazing, isn't it? Who'd have thought the Grandmaster's _own nephew_ would turn traitor. But then, he's _also_ Darth Vader's grandson, so I guess we _shouldn't_ have been surprised."

"What are you doing here?" Rey asked.

"Nowhere else to go." Makr said solemnly. "I first came here after that night. The night of the betrayal, when I lost everything. I fled here, knowing that there would be knowledge within the Enclave's ruins. I hoped to use that knowledge to destroy Ben, destroy the Knights of Ren, and the First Order along with them." He shook his head. "But it's no use. Even with all the knowledge here, I was just one man. I must have killed dozens of Knights of Ren and First Order Stormtroopers over the years, but the bastards always seemed to be able to get more of both, and with them spread so far and wide I could never do enough damage. I kept pushing myself, kept losing parts of my body until finally…" He sighed. "...I just gave up. But, this was the only home I'd known for so long, that I decided to stay here. Fitting place for an exile like me to live."

"Revenge isn't the Jedi way, Makr. You should have known that when you started your path of vengeance."

"I don't know if you noticed, 'Master Skywalker'..." Makr said harshly. "...but I'm not exactly a Jedi anymore. And besides, the Jedi failed me. They couldn't protect me, they couldn't protect my family, they couldn't even protect themselves in the end. And where were you? Not there to help any of us that remained. Not Kyle, not Kam, not Streen, none of us. We were all on our own. So I embraced that."

"You had a family?" Rey asked, having noted Makr's mentioning them. He nodded in the face of her question before saying: "Yes. Luke's Jedi Order wasn't like some of it's predecessors; Jedi could marry and have families. Luke knew that he owed his existence to a Jedi's love, and that his and Vader's love for each-other saved both in the end. So, following that example, I married. Her name was Beythna. We had a daughter...Arir. They're both gone now."

"I'm so sorry…" Rey said. "What...happened?" She turned to look at Luke. "Captain Sol-Han, he said that one of your students betrayed you and destroyed everything you'd built. Kylo Ren, I assume. But what exactly happened?"

"Yes, Luke." Makr said. "Tell your new Padawan what happened 'that night'. The night of the betrayal."

Rey turned to look at Luke. "It's okay, Master Skywalker. You don't need to tell me just now. Let's just get what we came here for and you can tell me later."

"But you're curious to know now, Rey. I can sense it." He shook his head. "It was all some years ago. I should have known it was coming, I should have prepared, but…" Luke shook his head. "Snoke got to him first. Promised Ben everything he could ever want, promised him his grandfather's strength and power. He always _did_ admire Vader too much. I tried to curb that, but I guess I didn't do it well enough. Then, one night..."

 _Luke was awoken to the sounds of fighting. Through the Force he felt out every cry of pain, every shriek, every scream, every explosion, every clash of lightsabers. He could feel bones break as they slammed against stone, he could feel skin singed by lightsaber or by lightning or by blaster bolt. He could feel all of it. For a being with his level of senses but lesser fortitude, such feedback all at once would have been catastrophic in it's damage to the mind. But Luke was able to keep his senses intact, though the jolt was still a terrible blow. It made him slow, slower than he ought to have been._

 _Nevertheless, he was able to leap out of the bed and grabbed and ignited his green lightsaber. As a fountain of forest green shot out of the hilt, Luke instinctively shot a look over at the bed that normally had two people in it, grateful now that Mara was not at the Temple at present._

 _Speeding through the hallways of the new Jedi Temple built on Yavin IV in a blur, Luke saw that all was in chaos; bodies of Jedi of all ages littered the hallways, along with the bodies of numerous hostiles clad in either the black fatigues of Dark Side adherents, or the sterile white armor of First Order Stormtroopers. Some of the latter group's "Flametroopers" were also here, setting fire to as many parts of the Temple as they could despite the best efforts of both the Jedi and the Temple's New Republic security force to stop them._

 _With a wave of his hand, Luke blasted several Flame and Stormtroopers through the air, tossing them away like ragdolls. Spinning around, he dispersed the flames of more flamethrowers before destroying them with telekinesis, leaving their owners defenseless and easy prey for the Temple Security. Someone tried to get at Luke from behind, but in a blink he had spun around and cleaved the attacker in two. Seeing the two halves of his body on the floor, Luke knew immediately that it was another of the men in black. He could indeed sense the Dark Side of the Force in the temple, and assumed the men in black to be some group of Dark Jedi or another. Or perhaps something even worse…_

 _A Bith Jedi was leading a group of younglings through the halls, deflecting blaster bolt shots with her yellow lightsaber and sending them back into the shooters. Unfortunately, there were so many blaster bolts coming, that one got her in the leg and she collapsed._

 _"Take them! Take them out of here!" She shouted to Luke, before another blaster bolt to the chest ended her life._

 _Creating a tapestry from the movements of his green lightsaber, Luke deflected dozens of blaster bolts, and in so doing killed scores of Stormtroopers. Leading the younglings along as the Bith had, Luke continued to deflect blaster bolts as they came before finally, he decided on a new tactic:_

 _Outstretching his free hand, Luke unleashed a blinding, blue-white flurry of withering bolts of Force Lightning, each one finding it's target in a Stormtrooper or man in black, and then chaining and striking more behind them. All told, Luke wasn't sure how many the blast of Force Lightning took down, but it was over a dozen at least._

 _Continuing to lead the younglings, who were by now all screaming, crying, and quivering in sheer terror, over numerous bodies, Luke didn't meet much more resistance. He did, however, hear the sounds of battle elsewhere, and could sense continuous death through The Force._

 _Once in the outer courtyard, Luke and the younglings could see most of their ships blown to bits, First Order vessels having landed and being the source of the Imperials, and flames burning brightly even amidst the rain that was coming down._ _More dead Jedi filled the courtyard, but also plenty of dead Imperials too. Luke could see to his right Streen using the Force to summon a gale force powerful enough to blast away and knock down one of the First Order's vessels, before using the same specific power to alter the already bad rainstorm to call down lightning bolts that hit two additional First Order ships flying in, taking them right out of the sky and causing them to crash with all on board._

 _To his left was Kyle Katarn, blue lightsaber almost a cyclone as he spun and whirled about, cutting down as many of the men in black as he could, who attacked with everything from swords to vibroblades, to even the unmistakable crimson glow of red lightsabers._

 _"Kyle!" Luke called out over the sounds of the clamor. "We need a ship! We have to get off-planet!"_

 _"No good." Kyle said as he cut down another of the men in black. "They've destroyed them all. Every last ship's been blown away."_

 _"Then we'll have to take one of the First Order ships." Luke said, unleashing a Force Wave to blast back over a dozen men as he did. "Where's Artoo?"_

 _As if on cue, a familiar white and blue astromech droid rolled onto the scene, as always somehow miraculously avoiding all the carnage that was happening around him. Luke broke out into a wide smile at the sight of his old friend. "Artoo! There you are! Get to that ship!" Luke pointed to the First Order vessel he had in mind. "...we'll cover you!"_

 _Indeed, Luke, Kyle, and several of the other Jedi in the courtyard still standing began to focus their efforts on the enemy force in front of them. Between them all, said enemy force never stood a chance. As R2-D2 made his way up the ramp waiting for him and into the First Order's vessel, the Jedi Kam Solusar made sure to neutralize the pilots and crew inside, using the Force to throw them out of the ship entirely. As R2-D2 got to work hacking the ship's systems, he let out an annoyed and indignant squeak and sputter as he found that The First Order had improved their ship's security, and that it would take longer than he thought to hack all the way through it. One Jedi who had piloting skills, took control of a New Republic ship the First Order **hadn't** yet destroyed, and shouted at several other Jedi to get on. Several did so, younglings included, and the ship took off. It didn't get far._

 _A bright, blinding explosion that was the ship being mercilessly shot out of the sky by the larger First Order vessel hovering above the planet caught everyone's attention, including Makr, who had just run out into the courtyard with his wife and daughter behind him. All the Jedi could feel the pain of losing so many of their fellows in one horrifying moment. As several sank to their knees in shock and defeat, and more First Order troops and the men in black closed in, a red lightsaber blade sliced off Makr's weapon-hand, the Jedi howling in pain as he fell to his knees. A second red lightsaber blade popped out of the chest of a Temple Security man, who gasped in pain before falling over dead as his killer pulled out the lightsaber blade._

 _Even though he was clad from head to toe in black and with a helmet obscuring his face, Luke would know the presence of his nephew in the Force anywhere. Even though it had become such that he now barely recognized said presence when he felt it. Anger, power-lust, and sheer toxicity had largely replaced what had once been there._

 _"Ben…"_

 _"Not anymore." Ben said simply as he moved forward along with the other men in black who were with him, one of whom was now holding Makr's wife and daughter at sword-point. "It's Kylo Ren now. The Knights of Ren are my new path to power."_

 _"Being a Jedi was never about amassing power, Ben." Luke said sternly._

 _"All the more reason why I'm no longer a Jedi." Kylo Ren said coldly. "You feared what I could become, uncle. That's why you and the other Masters tried to keep me down, keep me **leashed**. **Chained** by restraint, by pacifism. No more. Through victory, my chains will be broken, and The Force shall free me."_

 _Luke raised his green lightsaber. "Let Makr's wife and daughter go, Ben."_

 _"It's **Kylo Ren!** " the fallen Skywalker snapped, his cold tone being replaced with petulant fury. "Still, you disrespect me. Still, you refuse to treat me as your peer. Well, no more. I no longer grovel or beg for your respect or anyone else's. I **demand** it." He turned to the Knight of Ren with the vibroblade. "Kill them both."_

 _" **NO!** " Makr shouted. He called on the Force to get his discarded lightsaber in his other hand, but even so, he was too late to save either his wife or his daughter. As their bodies fell, Makr violently slashed with his lightsaber in a blinding haze of orange-yellow. The head of his wife and daughter's murderer bounced when it hit the ground, and Makr went at the man who'd ordered the murders next, but a combined Force push from Kylo Ren and all of his fellows working in concert sent Makr flying through the air as though he'd been swatted by a Rancor. He hit the ground hard enough to dislocate his shoulder, and his lightsaber went tumbling out of his hand. A Twi'lek Jedi reclaimed it, and the First Order Stormtroopers all raised their blaster rifles._

 _"It's over, uncle." Kylo Ren said coldly._

 _"If you think these Stormtroopers will stop me…" Luke warned gravely. "...you are sorely mistaken."_

 _"We all know your power, uncle. But ask yourself: you may be able to live. Can probably kill all of us, even. But...can your friends? Your students? The Younglings? I doubt any of them will live to see the end of tonight."_

 _Finally though, R2-D2 had hacked through the controls of the ship in full, and no sooner did he let out an electronic yelp of accomplishment did Luke and the remaining Jedi unleash a Force Wave of their own that blasted back their opponents, knocking them all down and giving everyone time to race onto the ship. With the controls unlocked, R2-D2 could interface with them as much as Luke could with his hands on the controls, and the old Jedi Master hoped that between the two of them, they could evade the First Order ship that had already brutally cut off one Jedi-filled ship's escape._

 _The ship got off the ground, taking a few blaster bolts but not too many. As it flew off, the ship up above opened fire again, but Luke's piloting skills, weathered as they had been, where still **just** good enough to allow him to move the ship faster than the gunners on the First Order vessel could think to shoot. Performing aerial maneuvers to the best of his ability, Luke was all the while grateful for R2-D2's piloting assistance, the little droid being just as invaluable here as he'd been in the Death Star's trench over twenty years prior. _

_TIE Fighters flew out of the larger vessel and came down on the escaping ship like buzzards swooping in for a kill. Luke did what he could to evade the blasts they fired, but there were simply too many turbolaser blasts from too many TIE Fighters. Knowing this, the other Jedi on the ship conjoined their power to erect a Force Barrier around the entire ship, that met the turbolasers head on and shrugged them off. Luke, though distracted greatly by the job of flying, could still put some of his own power into the Force Barrier, and it shrugged off yet more turbolaser blasts._

 _Eventually, the ship got high enough into space that it flew past the bigger First Order ship. The slower vessel turned around and began pursuit. Knowing full well it would catch up, Luke ordered Kyle Katarn to take the controls, freeing up his attention and allowing him to call deeply on the Force. Focusing on the larger ship pursuing them, Luke allowed himself to feel every facet of the ship, every surface, even the people, droids, and items it contained. Opening himself up to the Light Side and allowing serenity inside him even after all he'd seen that night, Luke outstretched his hands, and halted the larger ship in it's tracks. Try as the vessel might, it could not pursue, the ship grinding to a halt and locked firmly in Luke's telekinetic grip. Luke maintained this as long as he could until, eventually, the distance between his ship and the one he was controlling became too great, and Luke let go._

 _But it was enough of a head-start that that ship wouldn't be catching them._

"...we flew as far as we could, eventually getting as far as Tatooine. By then, Artoo had sent word out to the New Republic, who sent ships to get the surviving Younglings back to their parents. After we'd failed to protect them so utterly, it seemed only right to return them to their real families. Conscious that the First Order might try to seize them and corrupt them later, we put them and their families under New Republic protection and custody."

There was a long silence as Rey took in all this new information. Hearing about so many senseless deaths, especially those of Makr's wife and child, had pained Rey's heart, as well as threatened to fill it with anger when she thought of how Kylo Ren had ordered those particular deaths. Her accusing him of being a monster on Starkiller Base now seemed even more warranted than before.

But besides that, a part of her was also amazed by how Luke had managed to restrain a vessel of that size for so long with telekinesis. She had always known that Luke was powerful, even before having met him, but it was still such a display of power that it left Rey in silent awe.

"What about the other Jedi Knights and Masters?" Rey asked. "What happened to them?"

"I don't know." Luke admitted. "Many of them were not on Yavin IV at the time, and we lost contact with them afterwards. Those who had escaped with me, I left them behind when I left Artoo behind." He shook his head. "I just turned my back on it all."

"And so can you blame me for choosing to do things my own way?" Makr demanded. "I watched, helpless, while my wife and daughter were slain. If you would do nothing, then I was going to do something for myself!"

"And what do you have to show for it all, Makr?" Luke asked calmly. "You've lost yourself in anger and bitterness, become a broken exile living in the ruins of a destroyed enclave. Is that what you'd call doing right by your family's memory?"

A lance of scarlet shot out of the hilt that flew into Makr's hand as he pointed his now red lightsaber blade at Luke. "Don't you dare mention them to me! I know full well what I've lost, Luke!"

Instinctually, Rey ignited both blades of her double-bladed lightsaber. Makr looked at her, then lowered his lightsaber and deactivated the red blade. "Relax, I'm not going to fight you. I've no interest in lightsaber dueling anymore. Had my fill it after killing so many Knights of Ren…"

"Why is your lightsaber red?" Rey asked.

"Because this isn't my original lightsaber." Makr answered honestly. "It was destroyed by the one Knight I wasn't able to kill. 'Solomonanta Ren' was his name I think. So I took this one off the corpse of another Knight of Ren."

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that..." Luke said. "...or the symbolism. I can sense so much of the Dark Side in you, Makr."

Makr scoffed. "Save your anxieties, Luke. I told you, I'm not going to fight you or your new padawan. I may be angry, but I'm no Sith. I have no desire to just replace the Knights of Ren. You have nothing to fear from me."

"Excuse me, but...do you know if there's anything here left behind by Revan or Meetra Surik?" Rey asked, remembering why she and Luke had come to Dantooine in the first place, and eager to get them back on track.

"Revan and Meetra Surik? Of course. Plenty on the both of them. I take it you're planning to do what I did?"

"Not exactly." Rey said. "We think the Knights of Ren might be building a superweapon called 'The Mass Shadow Generator'. We know Revan and Meetra were involved in the original, and we were hoping what they left behind could help us stop the new one."

"You're welcome to see for yourselves." Makr said, though his tone didn't sound as hospitable as the words. "All I know is, you're wasting your time trying to bring down the Knights of Ren and the First Order."

"No." Rey said resolutely, shaking her head. "No, that's not true. They're a threat to the entire Galaxy. The _last_ superweapon they made destroyed several planets and most of the New Republic's fleet. If we don't fight them, they'll just keep killing."

"They'll keep killing anyway." Makr said sadly. "I fought them for years, girl. They can't be stopped."

"Not by just one of us, but if we all work together…"

"Think who you're talking to, girl. I've seen too much to believe in that kind of idealism. There were _dozens_ of Jedi once, and all it took was one betrayal to break us."

"That happened before." Luke pointed out. "And I, Obi-Wan, and Master Yoda were still enough to overthrow the Sith. The Knights of Ren can be defeated too."

Makr shook his head. "Look for what you're seeking here, and then leave. I do not wish to converse further."

Luke nodded, and walked off to check the different records. Rey followed him, but as she did, she shot a look back at Makr, who had returned to a meditative posture.

"I feel so terrible, looking at him. Knowing what he lost...it's awful."

"It is, Rey. But there's nothing more we can do for Makr. He needs to decide on his own if he wishes to help. We cannot force him to."

"But to just give up like this...knowing that the First Order and the Knights of Ren are still out there…" She shook her head. "What about the other Jedi? I know you said you don't know where they went off too, but maybe we could…"

"No." Luke said, shaking his head. "The Galaxy is a big place, Rey. If the other Masters and Knights don't want to be found, they won't be found." As Luke said this, he at last came upon the records he was looking for and took them out. "Here we are; records of Revan and Meetra Surik's exploits during the Mandalorian Wars. The Mass Shadow Generator was used at the end of that conflict. Let's see if these records have anything to say about the weapon's construction…"

Luke paused to look over the contents, poring through it all. He frowned as he failed to find much to go off of, though he _did_ get some rough outlines of the superweapon's design. The records did give one a rough idea of how the weapon worked and what it did, but most of that information was nothing new to Luke. Still, every little bit helped. One particular piece of information, was that the weapon had been created in part by Bao-Dur, a Zabrak engineer of some renown who had been working for the Republic at the time. Luke doubted that Bao-Dur would have left easily accessible detailed notes on how to design a superweapon, but he nevertheless wondered if Republic military archives had kept a copy. Such a copy would have likely found it's way into the hands of the Empire, them being as eager as they had been to build such devastating superweapons. Could more information on the Mass Shadow Generator be in old Imperial information caches? There was only way to find out.

Luke turned to Rey: "Well, good news and bad news; the bad news is that I couldn't find much here that will really help us. The good news though, is that I have some idea of where we _might_ be able to go next. But we shall have to split up to do it."

"What? But I just became your padawan…"

"I know, Rey. But consider the task I'm going to give you your unofficial 'Jedi Trials'. I need you to go to Coruscant."

"Why?"

"Because if any remaining Old Republic records exist on the Mass Shadow Generator, they would have found their way into the Empire's hands. Either way, they'd still be on Coruscant. I need you to go to the old Jedi Temple there and see what you can find."

"I will, Master Skywalker."

"Be careful, Rey." Luke warned. "The Emperor converted the Temple into his personal palace. I doubt his evil has completely left that place. You'll want to use caution."

"I understand. Where will _you_ be going?"

"Yavin IV."

"Why?"

"My Jedi Order may have been destroyed, but last I knew, there were still at least two Force users on the planet. A brother and a sister. Incredibly powerful, and possessed of knowledge and resources that we could desperately use. I'd have taken us there first, but I wished to see if there was anything here we could use first. That, and…"

"What is it, Master Skywalker?" Rey asked when Luke didn't finish his sentence.

"Yavin IV has become a very dangerous place since the Jedi were driven out, Rey. Kylo Ren didn't want any new Jedi Orders rising up there, so he and the other Knights of Ren released some very ancient and very dangerous evils. The Force is now completely out of balance on that world. Saturated with the Dark Side and it's creations."

"Creations?"

"Beasts attuned to the Dark Side of the Force, such as Battle Hydras and Terentateks. You find them on some worlds, and Yavin IV is one of them. Most of them were long gone well before I started my academy there. But Kylo Ren and his fellows used a Dark Side ritual to taint the planet. New Dark Side-born abominations have sprung up, and most of them are resistant to Force powers. Not a place I wanted to take you to just yet."

"Will you be alright going there by yourself?" Rey asked.

"I should be." Luke said, before adding: "But I'm not sure. If I can find the siblings though, I should be alright."

"What happens after I'm done on Coruscant?"

"Go to Yavin IV and wait for me to come to you. Then, we're going to Vjun."

"Vjun? Isn't that just a big dead rock?"

"It also happens to be the location of a stronghold built and overseen by my father during his time as Darth Vader. Rest assured that there are still secrets there."

"Oh...so I guess it's a big, dead, very important rock…" Rey muttered.

"One thing at a time though. Coruscant and Yavin IV first. Then Vjun."

As the two Jedi began to leave, Makr watched them go, and before they were out of the room entirely called out to them: "Hold...Rey, is it?"

Rey turned back around to face him. "Yes, Makr?"

"I don't know what Luke here has told you. Probably the same lies he told me and the others so many years ago. But know this; no matter what he may believe, no matter what _you_ may believe, I know only one truth: it's time for the Jedi...to _end_."

And with these parting words, Makr turned his back to Rey and Luke and the two Jedi left him behind.

 **Author's Notes: Yes, I had Luke use Force Lightning. Plo Koon used it in Legends, and other Light Side characters have factually used it before. Heck, Yoda was willing to redirect a lightning blast against Dooku on Geonosis, and did it again against Sidious in the RotS novelization. And as Kyle Katarn (who featured here!) once noted: abilities are not inherently good or evil; it's how you use them. Luke is smart enough to know this, and powerful enough to use Force Lightning without becoming an evil Dark Sider.**

 **The Force power that Streen uses to both blast away a ship with a gale force and call down lightning during a rainstorm to hit two more ships, is Alter Environment. It basically allows a Force user to manipulate elemental/natural forces, and in the case of a particular weather conditions, enhance them (as Streen did here). The power was something of a specialty of Streen's in the Legends continuity, but it's also been used by Sith Emperor Vitiate, Kyp Durron, Darth Vader, and others.**

 **Streen, Kyle Katarn, and Kam Solusar are all Jedi from Luke Skywalker's new Jedi Order in the Legends continuity, and likewise, he had his academy on Yavin IV in Legends same as he has it on Yavin IV here.**

 **Ah, Vjun. One of the best planets you visit in Jedi Academy (2003 Star Wars game). I'll definitely have fun writing the chapter set there (if I ever get around to it that is).**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Old Wounds

 _Kamino_

"Glad to hear from you boys." Came the familiar voice of General Leia Organa as her hologram materialized in front of Finn and Poe. "Did you find our 'Clone Army'? Or is it a myth?"

Poe Dameron shook his head. "No, ma'am, we found the clone army alright. They're in conflict with a Mandalorian faction and led by another one. Apparently there's some kind of civil war going on between them. Something over a weapon called 'The Darksaber'."

Finn spoke up: "We're with one of the groups right now. The ones _not_ leading that Clone Army. Turns out you might know one of them."

Leia raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Who?"

Finn and Poe exchanged a glance before the latter said: "Maybe...you should see for yourself."

Finn and Poe each stepped to one side, allowing Jaina to step forwards. Leia's eyes widened in shock and her mouth opened wide enough to stick a fist through. "No...Jaina?"

Jaina Solo smiled. "Hello, mom."

The old Resistance general was clearly making an effort to avoid any displays of sentimentality in front of her men, also going some way towards fighting the tears out of her eyes. Finally, she managed to force out: "It's...it's good to see you again…"

"Likewise, mother." Jaina said, also notably fighting to keep her tone even and her face composed. "Your men here might be interested in helping us."

"That depends." Leia said, quickly recomposing herself. "The Resistance and the Republic aren't generally friends of the Mandalorians. What do they want out of this alliance?"

"We just want to put our own affairs in order." Jaina said. "Our people are divided right now. If we find the Darksaber, we can close that rift. That's all."

Leia raised an eyebrow. "Are you speaking for your leader when you say that? Or have you somehow managed to become a Mandalore?"

Jaina shook her head. "No, mother. I'm not Mandalore. But Boba Fett wants his people united again. The Darksaber is the way to do that."

At the mention of "Boba Fett", everyone else's mouths (including Leia's) fell open. The infamous bounty hunter was before Finn and Poe's time, but they'd still heard the stories all the same. So great were Boba Fett's exploits (and bloody), that not even Finn's highly propagandized education and upbringing had failed to include him in it's historical accounts.

"Boba Fett. _The_ Boba Fett? I thought he was dead!"

"As did I." Leia said, echoing Poe's sentiments. But then she shook her head. "Should have known Fett would never die so easily. I can't say I'm happy to hear that you're working for him now. He's a very dangerous man, not to mention he worked for the Empire."

"Yes, but he doesn't work for the First Order." Jaina said quickly. "And he saved me and trained me after The Knights of Ren almost killed me. He's _earned_ my loyalty and trust. I can convince him to help you and your cause against the First Order, but only if you help us get the Darksaber."

Leia paused to consider everything her daughter had told her before finally saying: "I'll think about it. In the meantime, make sure that my men are well taken care of." She turned to Finn and Poe. "You're to stay with my daughter until I make my decision. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." Both men said without hesitation.

"Good. Then I'll get back to you soon." She turned to look at Jaina. "Jaina...there's...something important I need to tell you."

"What is it, mother?"

"It's about your father."

Jaina's face fell. She could already guess what the news was. "He's dead, isn't he?"

Leia nodded sadly, this time failing to keep back the tears.

"How did it happen?"

"Your brother killed him." Leia said gravely, and admitting to this hard truth just made the tears come all the more freely. Knowing it wasn't their place to watch, Finn and Poe turned their backs on the sight, and allowed their general and her daughter to have this private moment of grief. It was some time later, that Jaina came to Finn and Poe. "Thank you...for letting me speak to my mother again."

"How are you holding up?" Finn asked empathetically.

"As well as I can." Jaina said. "...which isn't very well. But I'm still glad to know. Better she tell me now than I find out on my own later."

"So...I have to ask..." Poe began. "...if you're General Organa's daughter, why…?"

"...am I with the Mandalorians?" She shook her head. "Long, tragic story. And also none of your business. Just know that I haven't seen my mother in a _very_ long time. I'm sure you can appreciate how…'emotional' an experience that just was, despite our best attempts to hide it."

"We can." Poe assured her. "But I really hope that you do decide to side with us. I mean, you heard what your mother said; the Knights of Ren are the reason your father is dead."

"Yeah." Finn agreed. "Not to mention that if the First Order wipes us and what's left of the New Republic out, then it's Palpatine's Empire ruling the Galaxy all over again. And I don't think they'll let you and your people stay free after that."

"You'd be surprised." Jaina said. "Remember, our Mandalore worked for the Empire for _years_ , and they were pretty lax as far as the fringe element went. But, our people haven't forgotten how _other_ empires led by Dark Siders have treated us. We didn't do so well under Exar Kun, for instance."

"So you think Boba Fett will say yes?" Finn asked. "If we get you this 'Darksaber' I mean…"

"I think so." Jaina said, before making a slight grimace. "Mandalore's a cold bastard, even _I_ can admit that. But he _does_ have his people's honor, and that means he's true to his word. If I can get him to promise to help you in exchange for the Darksaber, he'll help you. Simple as that."

"I hope you're right about that." Poe said. "Because we really could use all the help we can get at this point."

 _The Shadow-Lance_

Within his private chambers on the ship that had been given to him by Supreme Leader Snoke following his "promotion", Kylo Ren once more spoke to the collection of Sith Holocrons. It was right before the last of his trials under Snoke, and Kyo Ren knew he might not get another chance to glean insight from the holocrons for a good long while.

"This is it, masters." Kylo Ren said. "Once I complete these trials, my training as a Knight of Ren will be complete, and Snoke's trust in me will be total."

" _Your desire to usurp him is quite transparent."_ The holocron of Tulak Hord noted matter-of-factly.

"The Sith will be reborn from the ashes of the Knights of Ren." Kylo Ren said. "The other Knights of Ren will submit to me after Snoke is gone, or they will die. But I won't do it right away. The Supreme Leader is no mere adept. If I challenge him too soon, I will fail. I must wait for the right moment, as Lord Sidious did against _his_ master."

" _Are **you** planning to kill Snoke in his sleep?_ " Darth Tyranus' holocron asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kylo Ren shook his head. "No. Something a bit more…'dramatic' I think. Snoke may no longer be useful to me as a leader or master, but he could serve a purpose, even in death; a _martyr_. A symbol for the First Order to rally behind after an...'unfortunate' premature demise."

" _Deceitful and creative."_ Noted the holocron of Darth Bane, who nodded approvingly. " _I like the way you think, boy."_

"But as I said, I mustn't act too soon. First, I must complete the final trials…"

 _Coruscant_

Since the fall of the Empire, Coruscant had returned to New Republic hands, and so Rey was not afraid of being shot at by Stormtroopers or similar when _The Millennium Falcon_ landed on a wide-open loading bay. That said, upon exiting from the Falcon and making her way through Coruscant to get to the now abandoned temple, she could see that the streets were not only densely packed, but that the people in question were not in jolly spirits; large throngs of people holding up signs and holo-messages protesting the destruction of the New Republic fleet were everywhere. Rey's ears were assaulted by screams, wails, shouts, cries of the end times being upon the Galaxy, and more. Men and women had gotten up onto elevated platforms to shout out messages of doom and destruction, and how the New Republic was "finished".

Rey shook her head at it all and did her best to block it out. As she continued to walk (and more often than not awkwardly shove and stumble through the ever tightly packed masses), Rey found herself wishing desperately that she was deaf.

 _A deaf person with a hearing aid can choose what he wants to listen to._ Rey thought sourly. _The rest of us are not so fortunate._

Eventually though, Rey got far enough away from the main center of activity and protest and doomsday prophets, that the bedlam finally started to die down. The farther she walked, the fainter still it became, until soon Rey was in a part of Coruscant that was actually at a tolerable level of volume, activity, and living bodies in her way. As a result, Rey could also finally appreciate just what Coruscant had to offer.

Having lived on the desert world of Jakku for as long as she could remember, Rey had only really seen a large concentration of people in the one town she'd frequented working for Unkar. But that held not a candle to what even these less dense parts of Coruscant featured. On Jakku most people she saw were poor, aimless, downtrodden, or just plain not very interesting. Here on Coruscant, Rey saw a dazzling variety of people in all shapes, colors, and sizes doing all manner of things; a group of Rodian children were playing with a dark purple energy ball of some sort, a young Twi'lek female with dark pink skin darted by with mischief in her eyes. A Kel Dor dressed in a brown tunic, black pants, and worn boots cried out that he was selling tibanna gas from Bespin. Two Zabraks walked by holding hands lovingly, and a third did the same with a human male. Yet another Zabrak and a Duros were engaged in a shouting match with one another over something. Droids went back and forth, some toting bundles of things along, others free-handed. Rey could even see a small group of Jawas, all the way from their native Tatooine, handling some sensitive-looking machinery as they also led an Astromech Droid with green and blue markings along.

Rey breathed deeply as she took it all in. And just as she felt struck by how much life and vibrancy was here on Coruscant, she also realized that she felt the Force so intensely here. The chaotic but paradoxically beautiful mess of life fed into the Force, and made it so easy to feel it's presence. A smiled formed on Rey's face as she realized this.

 _I'm so glad that Master Skywalker sent me here._ Rey thought happily.

But, she also knew that he hadn't sent her there to sightsee; no Rey had a job to do, and so she continued her journey.

Another long walk and a hired speeder ride later, Rey was in front of the Jedi Temple turned Emperor Palpatine's fortress, now long abandoned by both. No sooner did she set her feet down on the entryway, did Rey feel assaulted by an unpleasant feeling. Looking out at the area in front of her, now empty and abandoned, and then up at the temple itself, Rey felt a sudden, overpowering, impossible-to-resist shiver run up and down her spine. She realized all at once that here, where she was standing now, had been the site of something horrible once. Years ago.

"You alright, miss?" The speeder driver inquired. "This is the old Jedi Temple, you know. You said you wanted to go here…"

Rey turned around and nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes it is. Thank you."

"Sure thing. That's fifty credits please."

Rey obeyed, giving him some of the credits she had gotten for herself since inheriting what little spending money was on _The Millennium Falcon,_ and what General Organa had given her before she left as a precaution.

 _Smart woman…_

Breathing in deeply and doing her best to not let fear enter her heart and mind, Rey walked up the steps and soon was inside the Temple. No sooner did she set foot through the entrance did her anxiety spike. It came so fast, with so much force, that she could not do anything but shudder. She felt death and pain so intensely, even moreso than in the ruined Enclave on Dantooine due to the slaughter that had happened here being more "recent".

Rey didn't get too far into the Temple before she saw the ruins of what was once the Archives; destroyed data-shelves that had just been left as a ruin, no attempt made to repair them or replace them with anything worthwhile. The only explanation for that was that Palpatine had enjoyed admiring his "handiwork". Rey shook her head in disgust.

 _To be proud of something like that..._

Rey moved ever further into what was left of the Temple, and with each step she felt increasingly sick and struck with a rising level of disgust. She could sense it; she could sense and feel the loss of life that had taken place here, the slaughter, the unfeeling betrayal by the perpetrators. All except one. One who _did_ feel. Quite a few things, but with a sense of duty and desperation burying feelings of remorse or sorrow at the blood he'd spilled. All of it was such that it still left an aura around the husk of the Temple, one that persisted to this day and with such potency that Rey could still sense it.

 _...why would anyone do something like this?_

Rey didn't get much farther though before a voice called out: "Who is it? Who's there!?" When Rey didn't answer, he repeated: "I said who's there!?"

Stepping out of the shadows with a long blaster rifle drawn and ready to fire, was a man dressed in crimson red robes that had seen better days, but strictly speaking were not in terrible condition. It was difficult for Rey to tell what the man was wearing beneath them, but over his head he wore a striking helmet the same color as his robes apart from the solid black visor. Upon seeing Rey, he called out threateningly: "What are you doing here, girl? This is no home for the Jedi anymore."

"How do you know I'm a Jedi?" Rey asked, deciding to play dumb.

"The lightsaber alone is a give-away. As are the robes." He lowered the rifle. "Come to kick a broken old man while he's down have you? Wipe out the last of my scum from the Galaxy? Is that it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Rey answered honestly, raising her hands and advancing slowly towards the man. "...I came here looking for some information that I think is here. Perhaps you could help me?"

"Information? Ha! That's a new one on me." He paused, before saying: "You really don't have any idea what I am, do you?" Rey shook her head. Sighing, the man removed his helmet to expose a fairly along in years male with mostly gray hair that had once been jet black. Sad, weary, brown eyes looked out at Rey, and she could perceive some burn scarring near the top right side of his head, which reminded Rey of Makr's facial scars.

"My name is Lexiit. I was once a member of Emperor Palpatine's Royal Guards. 'The Red Guards' we were sometimes called."

Lexiit saying this jogged Rey's memory as she recalled some of the stories she'd been told growing up. "Yes, I think I remember being told about you...you were the men who protected and guarded the Emperor! What are you doing here?"

"This was once the Emperor's palace, remember? Well, I stayed here long after all the others left or died. I had nowhere else to go, and I was stubborn in fulfilling my duty to the Emperor. Even in death. But, over twenty years of relative isolation have knocked all that nonsense out of me. You don't have anything to fear from me now, 'Jedi'."

"I didn't come here to hurt you." Rey assured him, advancing towards him again. "I didn't even know anyone was still here. I just want to find some information here, that's all."

"What sort of information?"

"Records from the Old Republic. I was told that anything Palpatine didn't destroy would have been kept here..."

Lexiit nodded. "That is correct. What exactly are you looking for?"

"The records of a Zabrak named 'Bao-Dur'. Could you maybe help me find it? Please?"

"What's your interest in it?"

"I think that a superweapon is being built. A very dangerous one. Bao-Dur helped design the original, so if anyone knows of any weaknesses in it or how to stop it, it would be him."

"I see...and you're asking for _my_ help? Even after I told you what I am?"

"What you _were._ " Rey corrected. "You said so yourself, all that nonsense got knocked out of you. Well if that's true, then I don't see why you can't help me."

The old man made a weary smile. "Eh, fair point. Very well, I'll see what I can do for you. Follow me."

Rey obeyed, following Lexiit through the ruins of the Jedi Temple until he eventually took her to a more out of the way room with a massive terminal built into one of the walls.

"All the data from the Old Republic The Emperor saw fit to keep is stored here. You may be able to find something."

As Lexiit said this, the sound of loud, clanging metal feet on a hard surface caught his and Rey's attention. They turned to see a Droid with a frame like a human skeleton walk up to them, photoreceptors glowing a dull red as it took in the two's appearances. Over one shoulder was worn a tattered, dirtied grayish-tan cape, and in one hand it held some kind of staff.

"Greetings, master. I see we have a visitor now."

"We do, Myn."

"Myn?"

"Yes. Named him after the Royal Guard who trained myself and others on Yinchorr. He's an old IG-series Magnaguard from the Clone Wars. I reprogrammed him."

"Why did you do that? Lonely?"

Lexiit nodded. "Yes. And it gave me something to do. You have to keep busy when you're living alone, or you go mad."

"...hello." Myn said to Rey, waving his free hand slowly as he did. Going back to her search, Rey looked for anything dating back to Bao-Dur's time, and anything he may have had a hand in writing. She didn't find a thing. Sighing in frustration, Rey shut her eyes for a moment and considered her options. She looked again through the data, and noted that there _was_ a file on "superweapons". Hoping there was something there, Rey accessed it, and sure enough, there was a file on "The Mass Shadow Generator".

Opening it, Rey was pleased to see that it contained just about everything she and the Resistance could ever need...or so it initially seemed. Unfortunately, some of the files were corrupted, which meant that Rey would need to deliver them to the Resistance and hope they could restore them. Unless...

"...can you restore corrupted files?" Rey asked Lexiit. He shook his head. "No, I can't. I'm afraid you'll need a professional with the right equipment to do that."

"Well, it was worth a shot..." Rey muttered. Taking all the information on the Mass Shadow Generator (and all the other files on potential superweapons while she was at it), Rey thanked Lexiit for his help. She was all set to leave, when while walking down a hallway, she noticed a pathway lined with still-standing bronzium statues that led to an arch-way. Over it was a glowing blue symbol of the Jedi Order, that of a lightsaber with wings on the sides. Intrigued, and feeling an especially strong nexus of Force energy there, Rey walked slowly towards it. Seeing this, Lexiit ran after her and said: "Be careful, kid. That place you're walking towards? It's _dangerous_. Messes with your mind. I saw Stormtroopers wander into there, and the ones that came back did so without what little in the way of brains they had. You sure you want to go there?"

Rey nodded. "Yes. Something about it...calling to me through the Force..."

Rey walked through and under the archway. The area in front of her looked almost like small stars floating in a blue, misty ether. The whole place gave off the feeling of space, which Rey might have found peaceful if not for the sense of foreboding and dread that was beginning to return as she walked further in. The temperature also dropped dramatically, Rey being surprised that her breath wasn't starting to mist over.

The atmosphere past the entrance was decidedly more grim; blue lights still flickered faintly, but overall it was dark, rubble was strewn about as it was in other parts of the Temple, and Rey felt once more a pungent sense of death and merciless slaughter, though in this area especially it also felt like a mausoleum. A tomb for the dead.

Doing her best to shake off such unpleasant thoughts and comparisons, Rey kept moving. She soon came to a circular, spacious chamber that looked comparatively well-preserved, with statues of Jedi with hoods up and lightsabers drawn that were still fully intact. The same fake stars from before were just below the ceiling here, and resting on a podium was a large holocron that glowed blue. Approaching it cautiously, Rey dared to outstretch a black gloved hand to touch it...

A flash of light later, and the ghostly blue image of a small, diminutive creature with pointy ears, wrinkly forehead, and four-fingered hands appeared before her. In his hands he held a cane. Rey recognized him anywhere. She knew of him even before training under Luke:

"Yoda..."

"A Jedi you are?" The holocron of Yoda inquired. Rey nodded. "Yes, Master Yoda. Well, a Jedi in training anyway..."

"A long time it has been, since any have accessed this holocron."

"I know, Master Yoda."

The image of Yoda flickered out, replaced by the image of a Zabrak Jedi, either Eeth Koth or Agen Kolar Rey couldn't tell (those being the two Zabraks who had served on the Council in the last years of the Old Republic). "Why have you accessed this holocron? What is it you are attempting to learn?"

"I...I don't know, exactly. I'm training to be a Jedi, but..." Rey sighed and said: "For so long I was waiting for a family I didn't remember to come back for me. They never did. But...I still want to know. I want to know who my family were. I want to know why they left me...why they never came back." There was something about the holocron, and the forms of the Jedi Masters it channeled, that made Rey want to be completely honest with it.

The holographic Jedi image changed once more, this time to the grim Mace Windu. "You are curious. Hungry for knowledge of the past, and still clinging to your past pain."

Rey shook her head. "I've made my peace with what I left behind on Jakku. I don't want to go back now. I'm done waiting for them. But...I still want the truth. That's all. I just want to know why I was left behind."

"Bring peace to you, answers to these questions will?" Asked Yoda as the holocron's image briefly returned to him before turning back into Mace Windu again.

"Yes...or at least I hope so..."

"Most Jedi do not start their training at your age." Mace Windu's image noted. "They start far sooner. From _infancy_. Your starting so late is a complication that will make it harder for you to become a true Jedi."

Rey nodded. "I know, Master Windu. Which is why I would welcome your guidance."

"Tell you exactly what you must do, we cannot." Came Yoda's answer as his form became the holocron's once more. "Find the correct path on your own, you must."

"I just want some guidance while I walk that path, Master Yoda."

Yoda nodded. "Yes, yes. Wise answer, that is. Duty of the Masters it is, to guide the next generation. Give insight when we can. Caution, when we must. But always ultimately your choice, it is."

The image flickered once more, and now took the form of a Jedi with a black mask over his mouth and eyes, and a clearly alien appearance. He was clearly Kel-Dor, and from that Rey assumed him to be Plo Koon.

"What is it you are seeking within this Temple? Did you come here just for the holocron?"

Rey shook her head. "No. I didn't know it was even here." Then, an idea came to mind: "Do you...do you have the forms of Revan or Meetra Surik?"

The ghostly blue image of Plo Koon nodded, before shifting to another legendary masked Jedi. "You seek the knowledge of Revan specifically?"

"Yes, about a superweapon called 'The Mass Shadow Generator'. How can such a weapon be stopped?"

"A record of it's strengths and weaknesses was left behind by it's creator, Bao-Dur."

"Yes, I downloaded what remained of those records, but they're damaged..." Rey held it up. A slot opened in the holocron, and Rey inserted the data chip. Mere moments later, the data chip was spat back out to her.

"Corrupted data recovered. You should now have everything you need to either build a new Mass Shadow Generator, or destroy one. I strongly suggest the latter course."

Rey nodded. "Don't worry, I will."

"Good. Before you leave, there is one thing we would ask of you."

"Yes, masters?"

Revan's image shifted into a female form, one in dress-like robes with a headdress of some sort, and tattoos on the chin that suggested a Mirialan (though the hologram's being all blue in color made it difficult to tell).

"You aspire to be a Jedi one day, but a necessary part of that is completion of the Jedi Trials. Within these corridors are the Trial of the Mind, also known as the Trial of The Spirit. Complete it, and you shall be one step closer to becoming a Jedi."

Rey considered. She really shouldn't take up time unnecessarily, what with Luke expecting her to meet him on Yavin IV and then Vjun. But if this was indeed part of becoming a Jedi...

Rey nodded. "Very well. I'll take the Trial of The Spirit."

"Be warned..." The holocron said, turning back into the form of Mace Windu. "...the purpose of the Trial of the Spirit is to pit an Apprentice against the darkness within themselves. Most do not like what they see, and the experience can thus be a punishing one. Do you understand?"

Rey nodded once more. "Yes, Master Windu. I understand."

"There is no shame in deciding you are not yet ready to face this Trial. Most Jedi do not face it first."

Rey bit her lip. "Will failure...kill me?"

"Not likely. But it could leave you mentally broken or scarred, and likely traumatized for some time afterwards."

Rey thought about it. It sounded like such a risk, especially for a relatively inexperienced Jedi like herself. But at the same time, her curiosity had been piqued, and Rey felt that she might not get another chance of taking the trial anytime soon. But was that not a good thing?

"I...I don't know." Rey admitted. She breathed in deeply. "But I'll try."

"Do, or do not." Yoda's form warned sternly. "There is no 'try'."

"Very well, then. I'll do it."

No sooner had Rey say this did a wall slide back to reveal a cavernous chamber. Walking slowly and cautiously into it, Rey found herself facing a dark, starry void. The door slamming shut behind her, Rey breathed in and out deeply, and did her best to remember everything that Luke had taught her (as well as not let the eerie, haunting atmosphere scare her).

Concentrating on the glowing blue sphere in front of her, Rey outstretched a hand and used the Force to move it along a glowing blue line. She took care to not let it deviate from the path, until finally she had moved it all the way across. No sooner did she finish did the platform she was on seem to rapidly speed forwards through the starry void. Rey was certain it was just an illusion, but a part of her wasn't so sure.

Either way, Rey had to repeat these simple telekinetic exercises a few more times, but was pleased to see that she could move the energy spheres without a problem.

 _Good to see I've made **some** progress in my telekinesis training..._

Finally, the platform seemed to come to a halt, namely at a large, circular arena that was overall quite featureless, and still surrounded by the void save for how off to one side was a large, blank face carved out of stone. Upon dropping down into this circular arena, Rey realized that there was a little girl there. Cuddled up and sobbing softly. Walking towards her slowly, Rey called out to her: "Hello? Hey, don't cry...it's alright..." She got closer. "...I'm here for you. I can help you."

Turning the girl around, Rey gasped in shock to see that it was her, when she was a little girl. When she was...

"You can't help me." Her younger self said softly, tears streaking down the sides of her face. "You can't help yourself."

"No, that isn't true." She wrapped her arms around her younger self, hugging her to her as though she were her daughter. "You won't be alone. Not forever. You'll find friends, you'll get away from Jakku, you'll..." Rey stopped when she looked down and realized that her younger self was no longer there. No longer in her arms. Looking around, Rey saw nothing. But she _heard_ something. It sounded like a cross between labored, strained breathing, and malfunctioning machinery. It also had a pronounced echoing quality to it, sounding far away even though Rey could feel whatever it was get closer and closer to herself.

Then, out of the shadows came a figure that was like something out of a nightmare; a lean figure with ghostly pale skin that was mostly obscured by tattered black robes over the legs, and covering the torso a ribbed vest of flexible armor plates over tight-fitting black garments. Most of the forearms were cold steel, and in place of fingers were cruel looking claws like some sort of animal's, but in metal sharp enough to rend flesh. A piece of armor covered the left shoulder, and an intimidating helmet was worn over the head that bore some resemblance to those worn by Ubese bounty hunters, but was ultimately distinct from it. Hanging from the leather belts worn over the waist were several lightsabers.

With barely a mechanical snarl, the dark figure drew one of the lightsabers, a filthy-looking hilt covered in black rags and adorned with cruel spokes. Out of it shot a bloodshine red blade. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw both the dark figure and their lightsaber, Rey nearly didn't move in time as the assailant dashed towards her with inhuman speed. Rey took her double-saber's hilt in her small hands and ignited a green blade just in time to awkwardly meet the red lightsaber blade head-on. The resounding clash was enough to force Rey backwards. Stumbling, she accidentally dropped her lightsaber, the green blades winking out as the hilt clattered to the floor.

Fear rising up into her chest as sweat went down the sides of her head, Rey tried to make a grab for the lightsaber, but the dark figure streaked forwards at that moment, delivering a blinding slash that went right at Rey's leg. Rey screamed in pain and fell to the floor. Looking up, she could see the dark figure twirling it's red lightsaber challengingly before zipping towards Rey again. Holding out her hands, Rey willed on the Force to protect her, and was rewarded with a Force Push that the dark figure leaped over easily. Rey rolled as the figure brought it's lightsaber down, the red blade going into the floor. Sticking out a hand, Rey called on the Force to return her double-saber to her. The hilt flew back into her hand just in time to allow Rey to activate one of the green blades to block the dark warrior's red one as it came smashing down towards her comely face. The saber-lock held for a few moments, but the dark warrior pressed down harder, and Rey felt her own lightsaber blade being driven back into her face steadily. She soon found herself all but choking on the ozone of the blade as it got closer, closer, closer...

Though her vision was being consumed in bright green and red light, Rey could still see, off in the distance, her younger self, looking at her sadly. And she heard her say: "I told you you couldn't help yourself..."

The dark warrior pressed down all the way, Rey screamed as she felt an intense burning pain in her head, and everything went black.

 _Yavin IV_

Luke frowned deeply as the ship he was on came within view of the jungle world known as Yavin IV. Indeed, the man piloting the ship said: "Are you sure you want to go down there, buddy? I mean, ever since the Jedi got driven out..."

"I am aware of how dangerous it is." Luke said simply. "But there are two people down there I must meet. Take me down there."

"If you say so. But don't say I didn't warn ya..." The man muttered as he went down to the planet's surface. Eventually, the ship landed, and Luke disembarked. Thanks to a very subtle use of Affect Mind, the man had not once realized it was Luke Skywalker he was taking down to the planet, instead imagining Luke as a middle-aged Duros. Once Luke was out, he set off in the direction where he sensed a powerful Force aura that was not blatantly of the Dark Side. The Dark Side, Luke found sadly, was now almost everywhere on Yavin IV, suffocating and suppressing his senses like a hot, muggy air in a steamy rainforest.

Yavin IV had long had a sordid history. It had been a stronghold for Naga Sadow once long ago, and then later became the mad Exar Kun's seat of power before he was overthrown. The balance of the Force on the planet had shifted to the Light Side when Luke had taken over and made it the home of his New Jedi Order, but of course, it's destruction had gone some lengths towards undoing all of that. Everywhere Luke dared to reach out with his senses, he could feel the darkness. Circling all around him.

Luke breathed in and out deeply. _**Feel** , don't think. Follow the light...let the light guide me..._

The two lights in the darkness of Yavin IV's jungles. Of course, there was darkness in them too. The two he sought out now did not subscribe solely to the Light Side of the Force. Like many in their family tree, they flirted with the Dark Side, tapping into it's power safely and with restraint without succumbing to it. This balance of light and dark along with just plain intrinsic power made them two of the most powerful Force users Luke had ever seen, just as their most famous ancestor and several others besides were some of the most powerful Jedi (and Force users), on record. All told, they would be excellent allies to have in the fight against the Knights of Ren and the First Order. _If_ he could convince them to help.

Eventually, Luke's path took him deep into a jungle where the terrain was completely uneven, and just a little bit treacherous to navigate if one didn't know the area well. Luke did however, and so could make his way through well enough. Deeper in, he saw a great, golden-scaled, two headed beast feasting on the carcass of a large herbivore with both of it's mouths. It dug into it's kill over and over again, greedily taking in mouthfuls of red meat. One head looked up and saw Luke, and hissed threateningly. Becoming aware of this, the other head looked up as well and hissed too. The great reptile flared out it's golden-brown leather wings dramatically as a challenge and stomped it's feet for good measure. It's long, whip-like tail with stinger on the end also began to flick about.

Unconcerned by all of this, Luke raised his hands and called on the Force to reach out and calm the creature, which he had identified as a Battle Hydra. Sometimes called a _Sith_ Battle Hydra for how much of a favorite war beast they were for the Sith back in the day, they had found their way on Yavin IV some time ago, and as Luke recalled, Ben in his few innocent years had once wished to adopt a young specimen as a pet. That is, until had Luke talked him out of it.

But, for all their associations with the Sith, plus their fearsome appearance, Battle Hydras were actually shy by nature, not likely to pick fights needlessly. Clearly, the Battle Hydra felt threatened or else thought Luke was attempting to "steal" it's food. But in using the Force to calm it's nerves and reassure it, he was able to convince it that he meant it no harm, and the Battle Hydra simply returned to it's meal, happily digging into the remainder of the meat.

Walking past the Battle Hydra, Luke eventually came out of the forest and into a clearing that showed the ruins of a temple. It was one that predated the Massassi Temples erected by Exar Kun's disciples and followers, instead having once been an attempt by the Jedi of the early Old Republic era to start up an academy. Like Luke's later effort, it had been a miserable failure.

And it was there that Luke sensed the siblings' presence quite distinctly.

With this in mind, Luke breathed in deeply once more, and made his way in.

 _Coruscant_

Rey shot up with a gasp, waking up in a cold sweat. Looking around, she could see that she was back in the room with the holocron, and that her doublesaber was at her side. Her entire face was sweating, she felt like she was burning up when she placed a hand to her forehead, and in all, she felt entirely miserable.

Weakly getting up, Rey found that her legs felt like jelly, and she gripped the podium where the holocron still rested, trying to center herself. But strength remained elusive, and Rey eventually fell back down again.

She'd failed. She did not need anyone to tell her, because she knew it all on her own. She'd taken a test she was nowhere close to being ready for and had failed miserably. Rey should have seen it coming, but she had had to know. She had wanted to test herself even in spite of not being ready. And this was her punishment.

Rey sighed, breathing in deeply and savoring the air as she took it in, before trace amounts of dust in the air prompted her to cough. Breathing in and out again, Rey finally mustered up the strength to hobble out of the area altogether. No sooner did she emerge from that place did she see Lexiit waiting for her.

"You were in there a while. What happened?"

Rey shook her head. "I can't...I can't... _won't_ , talk about it."

Lexiit shrugged. "If you say so. But you found what you were looking for, right?"

Rey nodded. "Yes, I did...but before I go, I have a question to ask of you."

"Yes?"

"You say you're not loyal to Emperor Palpatine anymore...well, in that case, why not join the fight against the First Order?"

Lexiit shook his head. "Nice try. But this old soldier has no more interest fighting for old enemies than he does for pretenders to Palpatine's legacy. And I rather doubt your friends would ever welcome my help anyway."

"If the First Order is allowed to win, they could destroy this entire planet. I saw what they did with Starkiller Base before it was destroyed. They won't be any more likely to spare this planet."

"Maybe not, but if I am to die here, then I accept that."

"But what about everyone else here? Will you stand by and let them all die?"

Lexiit seemed to consider this for a moment, before handing Rey a small device. "If you need me, use that. I will come. But until you require my assistance, I'm staying right here."

Rey nodded, and then with hardly another word, left the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and her failure there, behind. As she left though, she was unaware that a dark figure garbed in black tattered robes and gray armor with lightsabers dangling from belts and an eerie helmet over the head, was watching her go...

 **Author's Notes: Those Jedi Trials were based off of what was shown in some add-on content for The Force Unleashed, and likewise the dark warrior's attire is the Sith Stalker Armor from the same game.**

 **The Trial of The Spirit is indeed one of the Jedi Trials in the Legends continuity, and also called "Facing the Mirror" by some Jedi. It involved them facing their innermost demons or suppressed fears. As one might imagine, it could make for a traumatizing experience, which is what I tried to convey here. The other Legends Jedi trials are the Trial of Skill, the Trial of Courage, the Trial of the Flesh, and the Trial of Insight.**

 **"Myn Kyneugh" is the name of one Palpatine's Royal Guards in Legends who was on the Death Star with him when it blew up. He actually trained several other Royal Guard trainees, including Kir Kanos and Carnor Jax of Crimson Empire fame.**

 **The Battle Hydra is an actual beast from the Legends continuity, one of several dragon species in the original Star Wars continuity (another famous one being of course Krayt Dragons, though that's far from the only one). Likewise, Yavin IV in Legends was indeed a planet Naga Sadow and Exar Kun spent time on before it became the site of the Rebel base (and later Luke's Jedi Academy).**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Jungle

 _Yavin IV_

The inside of the temple was spacious, clean, and well-maintained. Above all, Luke did not feel the oppressive feeling of the Dark Side anywhere in the temple walls. It was "safe" in a sense; a sanctuary amid a sea of green and evil. Even though it's caretakers had some of the Dark Side in them, it was wholly subdued and in no way dominant over the Light Side that _also_ existed inside them.

But, that same lightness did not guarantee they would help him. Only _his_ arguments would determine that.

"We sensed your arrival, the moment you touched down." Came a female voice. The sister.

"Yes; your light shines so bright it stuck out a mile among all the darkness here." Came the voice of the brother.

"I'm pleased you haven't forgotten me." Luke said honestly.

Out of the shadows came the two caretakers; Firmus and Sudema Revan. The sole living descendants of Revan's bloodline, and a pair of Gray Force users who had kept their existence hidden from the Galaxy as most of their forebears had done. Since well before the fall of the Old Republic, in fact. They had simply dropped off the galactic radar a century or so after the time of Darth Bane, and most just assumed that Revan's bloodline had withered away and gone extinct. Even the Jedi Council never gave any indication that they thought that Revan still had living descendants. This proved a good thing though, since it meant that neither Palpatine nor Vader devoted any time at all to hunting them down or trying to find them once the Empire came, as they assuredly would have if they had known. And for their parts, the Revans simply did not rise up, recognizing that it was not their destiny or role to overthrow Vader and the Emperor: it was Luke Skywalker's. They used their powers in subtle ways to help people near them, but nothing more than that.

That is, until Luke and the emergence of his new Jedi Academy had prompted the sibling pair to at last come out of hiding.

"It is good to see you again." Sudema said with a soft smile and a polite bow. Just as impeccably mannered as Luke had remembered. She had a somewhat round and comely face, with very dark eyes and light skin. She wore her hair long, and with a simple flower pinned in it as a decoration. Her hair was actually white, a consequence of her half-Echani background that also contributed to the aforementioned light skin. She wore the white, form-fitting uniform of an Echani Handmaiden sans the hood, and wore it with confidence. She had been only a little girl when Luke had last seen her, but she'd since grown into a woman.

Similarly, her sibling had grown up as well, a far cry from the skinny child Luke faintly remembered. He did not have much Echani in his appearance, it seeming that his sister had gotten the Kath Hound's share of that. While his skin was a bit on the light side, his hair was dark like his mother's had been, and like his sister he lacked the trademark silver eyes of a full Echani, having instead dark eyes like her. Simply put, he was a half-Echani who could easily pass for fully human (and probably did). In attire, he wore the very same robes and armor Revan had worn sans the mask. And the same robes and armor that had then been worn by some of his descendants on down through the generations. Revan's distinct appearance was such an iconic part of him and his legacy, that it had been perfectly preserved for thousands of years. Passing from Revan to Revan and standing as an eternal testament to the power, ambition, and drive of the original wearer. So imbued with their essence was it that it was said that only a Revan could wear the robes and armor. Or the mask.

"I assume you did not come here merely to pay us a visit." Firmus said. Luke shook his head. "No. I came here to ask for your help."

"Against the First Order?" Luke nodded. "Yes. Apart from the fact that they just destroyed several planets via a fortunately now-destroyed superweapon, one of them is trying to build another one. If he succeeds, more planets will die. And billions upon billions of lives along with them."

The Revan siblings turned to look at one another, and then turned to look back at Luke. "We are sympathetic." Sudema said. "We do not wish to see so much needless death in the Galaxy..."

"...but, we _also_ do not wish to lead the Knights of Ren here, and let them take the secrets and knowledge our family have worked so hard to preserve for so long." Firmus Revan said. "We don't want them destroying it, either."

"I understand." Luke said. "But it has come to the point where we need all the allies we can find. _Especially_ those with a connection to the Force. I know you two wished to walk your own path in service to the Force. Separate from that of a Jedi. But the First Order and Knights of Ren's actions are such that it is no longer possible to remain neutral in this conflict. So I implore you to take a side, and make it ours."

Again, the Revan siblings looked at one another. And again, they nodded. "Very well. We shall lend our assistance against the Knights of Ren and the First Order. But it will be at the moment of our choosing."

"Actually, Firmus, I was hoping you and your sister could help me with something now."

"What is it, Master Skywalker?" Sudema asked politely.

"You have kept much knowledge of your family's history and their accomplishments. I was hoping for information on something Revan used at Malachor V: the Mass Shadow Generator."

Sudema and Firmus both nodded. "Yes, we should have some records of that. Give us a moment..."

As the two siblings went to pore through the records and holocrons that were in their collection of artifacts, Luke took the time to admire and examine some of their other ones. Possessions were something Jedi traditionally frowned upon, and while Luke's order had been more lax in that restriction than earlier iterations, the Revan siblings nevertheless had far more in the way of possessions than any Jedi he'd ever known or heard of...except maybe their ancestors.

On a rack were all the lightsabers of previous members of the family tree; even in the days when the Empire had made it all but impossible to build a lightsaber, the Revans had found a way; all Force-Sensitive members of the lineage had built their own, and so lightsabers were not passed down as anything other than keepsakes and memories of Revans who had passed on. By Luke's count there were over two dozen lightsabers present, though he knew that some Revans had used more than one lightsaber at a time, meaning that there could have been _less_ than thirty Revans who had commanded the Force since the hero turned Sith Lord turned hero again.

Opposite the rack housing so many lightsabers was a framed set of robes of a mostly light tan color. The sort of color the Jedi favored highly. The robes also included an orange-brown armored breastplate in the vein of the armored torso on Revan's signature robes, and vambraces of the same color past the sleeves of the robe. Past/underneath the vambraces were black gloves. Brown boots completed the ensemble that resembled but were still distinct from, Revan's robes. Looking at it, Luke could feel the Light Side radiate off the garment, giving it away as clothing that only one committed to the Light Side could wear.

"The Star Forge Robes." Sudema Revan explained, and Luke turned to face her. "It is said that our ancestor wore them when he fought and killed Darth Malak on the Star Forge, or else that Bastila Shan wore them whilst he wore his original robes." She shrugged. "The definitive account is unknown. Some even say that Revan wore the _Qel-Droma_ robe."

"Yes, I heard that." Luke said with a nod. "So many versions of the story. A pity the exact account of events has been lost."

"Time can be a great equalizer like that." Firmus Revan said sadly. "Enough ages pass, and history soon fades into legend at best."

"Did you find the records I asked for?"

Firmus Revan nodded. "We did, yes." He held out a black gloved hand, and in it was a holocron for Luke to take. "I hope this helps you."

"I hope so too...but you and your sister will help us against the Knights of Ren and First Order, correct?"

"We said we would." Firmus Revan said evenly. "That means we will. But as I said, it will be at the moment of _our_ choosing."

"So long as that moment doesn't come too late, I can accept that." Luke replied, just as even in tone as Firmus. Both men respected one another's power, skill, and reputation, and neither would ever let anger consume their thoughts or behavior, but they also weren't prepared to give an inch in interactions with each-other. Gentle but firm, that was how they were. And nothing and no one would change that.

"Will you be going now, Master Skywalker?" Sudema asked.

"Not just yet. I wish for my apprentice to meet me here. I want to introduce her to you, and you to her. I think she could benefit from the experience of seeing you both, and learning what she can from you."

"When will she be coming here?"

"With any luck, soon."

 _Coruscant_

Still shaken by her failure at the Trial of the Spirit, Rey left the ruins of the Jedi Temple in a hurry. She had what she needed regarding the Mass Shadow Generator, and now she needed to get to Luke. The next few minutes went by a blur that Rey didn't remember in any kind of detail. Even the broad strokes were hard to recall, mainly a lot of pushing and shoving and the occasional curse from someone she ran into on her way back to _The Millennium Falcon._ Once she was back onboard, she told Chewbacca to take them to Yavin IV. The Wookie acknowledged, and soon the Falcon was off. As it made it's way through space, Rey tried meditating to clear her mind, and let go of her fear at what she had seen in the trial and at her shame for having failed. It wasn't easy.

 _Stupid. I wasn't ready. **Why** did I do it? What did I **think** would happen?_

Rey shook her head. _No. No, I can't think like_ _that_. She shut her eyes tightly and tried to center herself as best she could. She breathed in and out, but it felt forced. Try as Rey might, she just couldn't enter the peace of mind needed to meditate. Every time she'd tried to picture something pleasant in her mind, she just thought of that... _thing._

Rey shuddered as she remembered the Dark Warrior. Everything about the figure was nightmare-inducing. And even though it had been only an apparition, a part of her Trial of the Spirit, Rey couldn't help but feel that it was not, in fact, "only an apparition". Something about that fight had felt real, even though it couldn't have been. She bore no wounds from a lightsaber on her person. But why that figure? Why did Rey's fears and insecurities take the form of that particular Dark Figure in that particular outfit? Why hadn't it just taken the form of Kylo Ren? Or perhaps Darth Vader? Rey didn't recognize the Dark Warrior from any story she had heard, or any picture or old holonet recording she had seen. It seemed to have just been made for her trial. But somehow, Rey couldn't believe it was that simple, that coincidental. Somehow, she knew there was more to it then just that.

Finally giving up on trying to meditate and calm her mind, Rey went into the cockpit of the Falcon and sat next to Chewbacca. The Wookie made no sound of acknowledgement, which wasn't like him. Looking into Chewbacca's black eyes, Rey could see immediately a melancholy in them. It didn't take any amount of Force sensitivity to see it, or know what the cause was.

Rey put a gloved hand on Chewbacca's shoulder and smiled at him. A sad, empathetic kind of smile. "I miss him too."

Chewbacca gave a noise that sounded vaguely to Rey's ears like a mournful moan, but also nodded in agreement. Finally, after some amount of time longer, _The Millennium Falcon_ came in sight of Yavin IV. The ship went down into the planet's atmosphere, and all at once Rey could sense the Dark Side like a pungent odor, and the deeper into the planet's atmosphere the ship got, the more Rey found compelled to gag and choke as if diving head-first into a pestilence. Then, The Falcon landed, and the ramp lowered.

"Wish me luck, Chewbacca."

And then, Rey went down the ramp, and into the jungle of Yavin IV.

 _Kamino_

"So do we know where the Darksaber actually is?" Finn asked Jaina. She shook her head. "Not exactly, no. We've long had some different theories of where it might be. Mostly legends, stories, that sort of thing. But never anything concrete."

"Do we know who last had the Darksaber?" Poe Dameron asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes. The last known wielder was a female Mandalorian and member of the Rebel Alliance named Sabine Wren. Unfortunately, what became of her and her primary allies is not documented. They seem to have just...'vanished', off the radar about one or two years before the Battle of Yavin. No one seems to know what happened to them after that."

"And so we don't know what happened to the Darksaber."

"Exactly. It's a shame too. If we just knew what had happened to Sabine Wren, it would make finding the Darksaber easier."

"Well, maybe it's not too late to find the trail." Poe suggested. "What was the last recorded sighting of Sabine Wren?"

"We'll need to check our records again to be sure. You have to remember it was roughly forty years ago. It's not something most of us remember off-hand. But I'll check in with Borak. He always was the history nut."

"So what can we do in the meantime?"

"You two know how to use blasters?" Both Finn and Poe nodded. "Then I'll have the quartermaster arm you both. Never know when the renegades will attack again. This _is_ their turf after all."

"How long have you been here?" Finn asked.

"Weeks."

"Weeks!? How is that possible? Wouldn't the battle have been over by now?" Poe asked.

"You'd think so, but no. This is a _cloning_ facility. It's easy for them to make more clone soldiers to replace the ones that have been lost, and they _always_ have more clones being grown around the clock. And besides that..." Jaina pointed to another platform far off in the distance. "See that? Well, that large platform is a sort of 'No Man's Land'. We and them have been fighting over that central platform for weeks and neither side's gained an inch. And if we do, then the other side takes it back almost immediately. It's a constant tug-of-war. So many men have died there."

"Then why not try going around?" Finn asked, even though he knew before getting an answer that there was going to be one for the Mandalorians to have not gone for such an obvious solution, and that he'd look like a fool to ask. Sure enough, Jaina (after looking at Finn as though he were Nerf Herder of the Year), said: "Because the renegades still control most of this facility, and that includes anti-air batteries. We try to fly around or spend too much time in the air, they'll shoot most of us out of the sky. Of course at the rate things are going, we may just get desperate enough to try it. Or, we could end up pulling out. We have other engagements with the renegades on other planets, you know. We can't devote everything to taking the cloning facility here. Not when we've also got battles on planets throughout the Outer Rim."

"So what you're saying is, that if you don't take this planet soon, you'll be forced to withdraw?" Poe asked. Jaina nodded. "That is correct. Just one more reason we need to find the Darksaber."

"Fair enough." Finn said. "But...if we can't?"

Jaina shrugged. "Then we keep fighting until one of us emerges victorious. It will undoubtedly weaken both sides though, and the Mandalorian peoples as a whole. And it will also guarantee that the Resistance will never get our support either."

"Then let's hope we find the Darksaber." Poe said grimly.

 _Yavin IV_

So far, Rey's walk through the jungles of Yavin IV had been uncomfortable due to the hot muggy air and the oppressive feeling of the Dark Side all around her that made her feel horribly confined and claustrophobic even though she was out in nature. The sky, which had once been light blue, now had a sickly yellow tinge to it, as though it were the afternoon even though, really, it was because of just how horribly affected by the Knights of Ren's Dark Side ritual the planet had become. Not that Rey knew those things, of course, but even she knew that the color of the sky and the perverse feeling of darkness all around her were not natural. Something had been done to Yavin IV, and it didn't take an expert in the planet's recent history to know it.

Eventually, Rey's path became blocked by a large tree that had apparently been knocked over. Looking down on the ground, Rey was not surprised to see that large footprints had been left in the dirt, doubtless by whatever had knocked the tree over.

Rey looked back at the severed tree. She could probably walk around it, or just jump over it and keep moving. But, her pride still wounded from her shameful failure of the Trial of the Spirit, Rey felt like she had something to prove where the Force was concerned. So with that in mind, she resolved to move the tree.

Outstretching a black gloved hand, Rey willed the tree log to lift up and then move away from her path. The log shook and vibrated, but it resisted Rey's efforts to rise at first. Even when it lifted off the ground after a few moments, Rey found it a struggle to keep moving it with just one hand, so she stuck out both hands, and pumped more effort into it. And so, with ultimately moderate difficulty instead of the ease she'd been hoping for, Rey moved the log out of the way.

Sighing in frustration, Rey did her best to smother her irritation, and kept walking. She gripped the handle of her doublesaber tightly, eyes darting about for any sign of hostile fauna. As it is, she did eventually stumble across some large, green lizards of a very lean, almost gaunt, appearance. Upon spotting Rey, two of them dove right for her, and Rey cleaved them to pieces in short order with her double-saber, the green blades slashing like an emerald whirlwind as they spat out of the ends of the hilt.

As the severed halves of the first two large lizards fell to the ground, the other two threw back their heads and unleashed a hideous wailing noise that stung Rey's ears as if turbolasers were being fired right next to her. However, this was only the initial shock, and once it passed, Rey found that, while the noise was still awful, she could still stand and fight. But not keen on charging the shrieking lizards while they were doing it, she opted for a different idea.

Aiming her lightsaber, Rey hurled it like was a large disc instead of a long hilt with energy blades coming out of the ends. The double-bladed lightsaber spun through the air and decapitated both of the Howlers. Keeping her hand outstretched, Rey called the double-bladed lightsaber back to her, and was pleased when it came back without incident. She smiled.

 _Well, at least I know how to do **that.**_

Of course, Rey knew that such creatures could have never knocked the tree over or made the footprints, which told her that she still hadn't encountered the thing responsible. Which in turn meant that she'd do well to be cautious.

As it is, she didn't get much farther before she came within sight of one of the old Massassi Temples; walking up the steps, Rey could see a wide open stone field with large, commanding towers. All at once she realized that this place had likely once been one of the headquarters for the Rebel Alliance during their war with the Empire. It fit what she'd been told growing up about the Galactic Civil War perfectly.

Moving past it this temple, Rey's attentions were diverted to a rather incredible (if also bloody), sight: in front of her, lay a large herbivore of some kind. It was very dead, and it's blood was everywhere, on the beast from it's fatal wounds, saturating the soil, and even spattered across nearby trees. And in the thick of it, were the two predators that were competing for the kill.

One was a Battle Hydra (though Rey would not have recognized it as such), and the other was a muscular, stocky brown creature with cruel, curving claws coming out of the toes and fingers, curving tusks coming out of the mouth, a row of black ridge-like spines going up and down the back and ending on the head, and black eyes that contained nothing but cruelty and pain. Just looking at it once, without knowing anything about it, Rey knew all at once that it was evil. Evil, and hungry, and willing to do whatever it took to win.

Sure enough, the brown creature eventually got the upper hand on the Battle Hydra, which was itself fairly young and not yet fully grown or matured. Gouging one long neck with it's claws, the brown creature bit down viciously into the other neck. The Battle Hydra gave out a wailing cry of pain that was cut short when the brown creature continued it's work and the one head was taken clean off in short order. The now one-headed Battle Hydra flailed desperately and feebly for a few moments before collapsing dead.

So struck by the sight was Rey that she didn't think to move or get out of the way, and then the beast spotted her. Even though it had two perfectly good meals laid out at it's feet like dinner and dessert, there was clearly something about Rey that it didn't like, and with a bellow it lumbered towards her. Rey tried to backpedal, put some distance between herself and the thing that had just killed a young Battle Hydra, but her foe was having none of it and quickened it's pace. It didn't seem possible, but it was gaining on her, it's large frame or the uneven ground doing little to slow it down.

Eventually, the thing came within striking distance of Rey. A single direct hit from it's clawed hands would have surely killed her and sent her through the air for good measure, but Rey _just_ managed to dodge it. Even so, two of the thing's claws nicked her shoulder. Of course, that "nick" actually ended up tearing off a good bit of skin. Rey screamed in agony and fell to the ground, clutching at her bleeding shoulder area and realizing all at once that she now felt sick, nauseous, and slower than she should be. And also as though her vitality was slowly being sapped away.

 _Poison...that thing **poisoned** me!_

Raising a large clawed hand, the beast tried to bring it down on Rey, but she backed away just in time, avoiding the meaty hand as it drove it's claws deep into the earth. When it pulled it out, it ripped out a huge amount of dirt along with it's hand. Rey was all set to break into a run and take her chances (ones she knew were bad with both her injury and being poisoned and the beast's deceptive high speed), when several arcing, powerful bolts of blue-white lightning all went at the brown beast. As the bolts hit it, the monster screamed, whipping around to the source. But in the end, it made no difference, as the punishing stream of Force Lightning from three different, powerful sources, overrode what resistance to Force powers it had, and soon it had collapsed dead, smoke coming up from the corpse, which had been left thoroughly charred to the bone.

Looking out, Rey could see her master Luke with two other people, before blacking out.

 _The Unknown Regions_

General Hux stood at attention as Supreme Leader Snoke's holographic image materialized in front of him.

 _"Report."_ Snoke ordered sternly.

"We may have lost Starkiller Base, Supreme Leader, but we have made efforts to compensate; our troops and ships have been steadily spreading throughout the Galaxy without the New Republic fleet to molest us. Every day, more planets surrender to our forces. Especially after the...'demonstrations' I gave on Dantooine and Ord Mantell."

Snoke raised an eyebrow. _"Oh?"_

General Hux nodded and took out a hologram-emitter to show footage of what the First Order under General Hux's leadership had left behind: scenes of burning towns, mercilessly shelled husks were towns had once been, and bodies of unarmed men and women lying dead. Farms on Dantooine set ablaze, and smoke rising up into the sky.

"My men have been pacifying towns and settlements on both worlds. A means of giving the rest incentive to bow down to the First Order's rule." General Hux then put the hologram away. "I intend to leave soon to assess the progress on both planets. After that, I'll be going to Rattatak. That planet has long had a history of slavery, and I believe that such practices could greatly benefit the First Order. Palpatine's Empire did, after all, have much slavery, and was ultimately stronger and more efficient for it."

" _True."_ Snoke conceded. _"You have done well, General Hux. The First Order's reach does indeed extend further and further. Soon, the Core Worlds will succumb to our influence as well without the New Republic fleet to protect them. The Resistance of General Organa, shall not be enough on it's own."_

General Hux shook his head. "No, Supreme Leader, it will not. But, they _could_ be a nuisance in the meantime. And worse, their efforts might inspire others to rally to their cause, or start up their own movements against us. Simply put, Supreme Leader, I believe that if even _one_ member of the Resistance is allowed to live, they could bring about more rebellion all on their own. The First Order's rule must be _absolute,_ and accepted by all without resistance or protest."

 _"Again, you are correct."_ Supreme Leader Snoke said with a slight nod. _"Fret not, General Hux. Kylo Ren's training is nearly complete. He is passing my trials and tests as we speak. Once he has finished them all, he shall return to your side and together, you shall lead **all** First Order efforts into the rest of the Galaxy with the other Knights of Ren. I am confident you will find the...'new' Kylo Ren, a most excellent ally in your efforts."_

"I'm sure I will, Supreme Leader." General Hux said, even though privately he couldn't stand the thought of ever seeing Kylo Ren ever again, and he knew the feeling was all-too mutual. General Hux wasn't a man for feeling fear, which he regarded as a weakness generally, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't intimidated by Kylo Ren, and feared being on the receiving end of one of his many psychotic and petulant temper tantrums.

 _With any luck, the Supreme Leader's trials will beat all of that nonsense out of him._ General Hux thought, even though he suspected he was just being overly-optimistic. In any case, he saluted again and the communication ended. Turning heel, General Hux went to the hangar where his personal shuttle (an old Lambda-class Imperial Shuttle from the Palpatine Empire era), waited to take him to his main vessel, a _Resurgent-_ class Battlecruiser he had dubbed _The Hand of Complicity,_ reflecting (perhaps un-creatively), his ultimate expectation of all beings not him.

Truth be told, General Hux never liked interacting with Supreme Leader Snoke _or_ Kylo Ren. For that matter, he didn't like interacting with any of them. Any of the Knights of Ren, with their sorcerous ways and preoccupation with The Force. To General Hux, "The Force" was an antiquated and silly notion, best left to the long-dead philosophers and the Jedi Order he had had a hand in eradicating the most recent iteration of. It had been _his_ ship that had shot that one shuttle filled with Jedi of all ages out of the sky, and would have done the same to the First Order vehicle the rest had hi-jacked, had it's occupants not been so damned good at avoiding his ship's shots, and then they somehow kept the ship from moving...

General Hux shook his head, always finding that last part so distasteful. That right there was part of why he couldn't stand The Force. He didn't like the thought that some old mystic with foolish notions of morality and high-minded notions of justice, could just flick his hand and a whole vessel under his command (and he along with it), could be rendered helpless. That sort of power, General Hux privately believed, was a cancer on the Galaxy, and if he had his way, one he would deal with utterly and without quarter. One he _would_ deal with, utterly and without quarter, if he ever got the chance.

 _It is doubtful though._ General Hux admitted sadly as his shuttle came within sight of _The Hand of Complicity._ He hurriedly got on board and ordered it to go to Dantooine first, and then Ord Mantell next.

 _Deposing Snoke would never be easy to do, and with all those Knights of Ren, I may never get the chance. Tsk. I suppose I'll have to content myself with furthering the First Order's reach in the meantime._

 _Yavin IV_

 _Rey saw a great battle station, hovering menacingly above a planet. She didn't know which planet it was. The station charged up with a sickly glow, and then it unleashed a horrid explosion of energy. The planet splintered and cracked and seemed to fall in on itself until it was nothing more than a deformed mockery of what it had been before. Hideous cracks and crevices danced around it, and a sickly green glow emanated from the planet's core as green lightning flashed every which way._

 _She saw a glimpse of the past, a horrid glimpse, of seeing so many planets be destroyed, fiery explosions blossoming in the sky before winking out forever along with the billions of lives they collectively contained. The work of Starkiller Base, it's super-lasers streaking so far out into the galaxy and obliterating all that they touched. Rey had remembered being rooted in place with sheer terror at the sight._

 _Rey saw a beautiful woman of vague age with dark brown hair smiling warmly at her. There was such kindness and a twinkle in her brown eyes. But also such sadness. It was the same woman Rey had seen when she'd slept on the trip to Dantooine. The one who had been running before. But now she stood still and smiled warmly, holding out a hand._

 _"Rey..." She whispered. "Rey..."_

 _A white light consumed Rey's vision and the woman faded out of sight. But she heard her say: "Rey, find me..."_

Rey awoke with a gasp, thrashing and convulsing violently as she awoke from what she had assumed was a fever dream. Certainly she had a burning fever. She could tell without needing to bring a hand to her forehead. The two Revan siblings were holding her down as Luke used the Force to purge the toxin from Rey's system.

"It's okay, Rey. It's okay. We're here."

"M-master Skywalker..." Rey mumbled, steadily calming down and ceasing in her thrashing as she felt the last of the poison leave her system thanks to Luke's healing. She shook her head as she felt in control of her body again, and her fever began to recede. "Master Skywalker...I'm so sorry. What...what _was_ that thing?"

"Terentatek." Firmus Revan answered, before his sister elaborated: "Dark Side aligned monsters. Creations of Sith Alchemy made by Exar Kun right here on Yavin IV to hunt and kill Jedi. It is an apex predator and Force Users that don't command it are it's prey. It's actually resistant to Force powers normally." She smiled. "But the three of us together overrode that."

"I take it that was one of the monsters that showed up after Kylo Ren...did what he did to this place?" Luke nodded in the face of his padawan's question. Rey turned to look back at Firmus and Sudema Revan. "Who are you?"

"Firmus and Sudema Revan." Sudema greeted pleasantly, outstretching a hand for Rey to take. Rey shook it and then turned to look at Firmus, who nodded. "You took a bad cut against the Terentatek, but your master's healing it as well as purging the poison. I sense great potential inside you. The Force is incredibly strong within you. But...you haven't yet honed it."

"I know." Rey said glumly, nodding her head as she did. "I _still_ have a long way to go before I can call myself any kind of Jedi."

"Not true, Rey. You're a Padawan making progress as needed. And for what it's worth, most Jedi of your experience level would have died against a Terentatek."

"I would have too if you hadn't shown up with these two." Rey said.

"Take heart." Firmus said. "No neophyte Jedi has ever, ever killed a Terentatek. It's simply unheard of. Even our ancestor didn't kill his first one until after reestablishing his connection with The Force and getting re-trained in the Jedi arts. And even then, he had some help at the time."

"Well, I hope I never have to face one of those monsters again." Rey said, shaking her head.

"I wouldn't count on such good fortune." Sudema Revan said sadly. "Terentateks are emboldened when the Dark Side is strong in the Galaxy, as it is now. They can be found scattered throughout the regions, on many planets, always eager to kill."

"Wonderful." Rey said sarcastically. She turned to look back at Luke: "I went to the Temple on Coruscant. I got what I could on the Mass Shadow Generator."

"Excellent, so have I. Between the two of us we should have enough to go to my sister and the rest of The Resistance with." He smiled. "It will be...good to see her again. Especially after Han."

Rey nodded. "Yes, I think you'll both need each-other." She paused, before asking hesitantly: "What about Vjun?"

"We'll go there as well." Luke confirmed with a nod. "But I believe that getting what we've learned to Leia should take priority. Once we've delivered the information we have to Leia and told her and the Resistance what we know, we can go to my father's castle on Vjun."

"If I may ask, Master Skywalker...why would we want what's there? Wouldn't Darth Vader's secrets be, I don't know, of the Dark Side?"

"Yes, which is _exactly_ why I don't want my nephew getting his claws on them, if he hasn't already. If he or any of the other Knights of Ren are active there, we need to remove them."

"I understand." Rey said with a nod. There was a pause. Having had several moments now to calm down, Rey began to think back on what she'd seen in her fever dream, and realized that it was not that. No, it was something more. Rey remembered one of the many nuggets of wisdom from the great Master Yoda that Luke had taught her while she was training on Ach-To: "Through the Force, things you will see, other places; the future, the past, old friends long gone."

Rey thought about it. She _had_ seen a glimpse of the past, when Starkiller Base had destroyed numerous planets and the bulk of the New Republic fleet along with it. But what about the other two visions? She realized, that the first, must have been of the Mass Shadow Generator. But was it the original or...a new one?

Rey shuddered, and she knew the three great Force users in the room could sense her anxiety. Luke asked her what was wrong.

"While I was recovering from the poison, I...I think I saw visions. I saw what looked like the Mass Shadow Generator destroying a planet. I think..." She fell silent and began again. "I think it's something that's _going_ to happen."

"You're sure?"

"Not 'sure', but I suspect it. The second vision was something from the past. I feel like the first one is a glimpse into the future though." She shook her head. "But I don't want to believe that it is. If it is then we've failed."

"The future is always in motion, Rey. Events we glimpse are not always set in stone. They can be altered based on our choices."

"I hope so, Master Skywalker."

"Did you see anything else?" Sudema Revan asked with concern in her eyes. Her brother too was clearly interested in what Rey had apparently witnessed.

Rey nodded. "Yes, I saw..." The words fell away as she thought back to this woman she'd seen twice now. She seemed so familiar, so treasured, and yet Rey couldn't understand why. Who was this woman? How could she be an "old friend long gone" if Rey didn't even know who she was? The moments ticked by silently, before the answer came all at once. It was an answer that Rey didn't fully trust, but the more she thought to the woman's hair, her smile, the look in her eyes, and the kindness and warmth that radiated off of her, Rey realized it was the only answer that made any sense to her at all.

"I saw my mother."

 **Author's Notes: Yes, yes, I am aware that Revan is not a last name in Legends, but I decided to make it so in this SW continuity. Apologies if that ruffles feathers, but it's what I thought best served the narrative.**

 **Trivia time, as usual:**

 **1\. The Echani are a humanoid species in Star Wars Legends that look pretty similar to humans, but their skin is usually either very pale or very dark, their hair is always either white or black, and their eyes are silver. They also have low-level superhuman physicality and are basically a species of martial artists, being essentially a warrior culture. The Echani Handmaidens are the ice-queen jerk brigade that serves my least favorite Star Wars character of all time, Master Atris from KotoR II. However, I do love the Handmaiden's white outfits (truth be told I always found them kind of sexy), and I liked Brianna as an individual in small doses (she's a HELL of a melee fighter in the game to be sure), and so I made Sudema Revan a half-Echani who dresses and fights like Brianna and her jerk sisters.**

 **2\. The Star Forge robes and the Qel-Droma robes are Light Side-only robes you can find and wear in KotoR 1. The latter can be found in the Shyrack Caves on Korriban if you know where to look. It looks the same as an ordinary brown Jedi robe though (which is a bit disappointing), but offers better stats. Only Bastila, Juhani, and LS player can wear it. Johlee is not Light Side enough to equip it, sadly. As for the Star Forge robes, you can make and equip those on the Star Forge with enough computer spikes, but only if you're playing the LS version of the final segment of the game. In the DS segment, you get a stripped down version of Darth Revan's robes.**

 **3\. The "No Man's Land" on Kamino is not just a reference to NMLs from World War I, but also how, in SWB II on the Kamino map, there is a major platform/command post that is a hotspot. Take it from someone who pumped many, many hours into 2005 SWB II, that you can spend pretty much an entire battle in that area, and neither side ever holds the platform for long, and it becomes a contest to see which side wipes out the other first. That was my other main inspiration for the idea to have something similar in my story.**

 **4\. The Howlers that Rey deals with on Yavin IV are originally from the 2003 Star Wars video game Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy as an early enemy. Awesome game in terms of gameplay, diversity of locations, and (at the time) respectable graphics. TERRIBLE story though. It makes TPM's story look like _The Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of the Jedi_ by comparison.**

 **5\. The Terentatek is a seriously boss Dark Side-aligned creature from the Legends continuity that first appeared in the 2003 Knights of the Old Republic video game. They exist in the Disney continuity too, but as beasts native to Kashyyyk that as of now do not have the same backstory as their Legends counterparts of being beasts bred by Sith to hunt and kill Jedi. But, since I prefer the Legends interpretation, my Terentateks here draw inspiration from that depiction.**

 **Lastly, I am aware that I have been rather skimping on action for a Star Wars story so far. I had hoped the bit with the Terentatek could help fix that, but I do feel that so far there's maybe been a little _too_ much talking and not enough fighting. I definitely don't want an overabundance of the latter at the expense of the former, but I don't want the other imbalance either. I've been enjoying writing this story so far, and I believe in my story, but I do think it's time I ramp up the action content soon. Especially now that I've introduced two new powerful Force users. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Reunions

 _Yavin IV_

"You said you saw your mother?" Luke asked with a raised eyebrow. Rey couldn't tell just how much or how little her master believed her, but she said. "Yes. I know it sounds crazy, but...I just _know._ I _know_ it's her. I can _feel_ it. That look, in her eyes...and she called out to me." Rey nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, I'm sure. It _is_ her."

"Interesting..." Sudema muttered. "...do you not have any memories of your mother?"

Rey shook her head. "No. I...I don't remember much about my early childhood. Just..." Rey sighed. "...being left behind on Jakku while a ship flew away, leaving me there. I can't really remember my parent's faces, until now when I saw my mother in my visions." She turned to look at Luke: "Why do you think I'm seeing her now?"

"You've only just been taught the ways of the Force." Luke gently reminded his student. "And clearly, you have a strong emotional attachment to the family you never really knew. Now that you're learning how to hone your affinity for the Force, it's giving you something of what you've always sought: answers and insight regarding your family."

"But I still don't know anything about them." Rey noted bitterly. "Including why they abandoned me..."

"Those answers may make themselves known in time." Firmus Revan noted matter-of-factly. "Take a bit of advice from an older Force user: it's a bad idea to rush these sorts of things. Letting events run their natural course is often a better path."

"But I need to know!" Rey said, with more anger than she had intended. "I _need_ to know. I'm willing to leave my past on Jakku behind. I'm willing to stop waiting for a family that I know is never going to come for me. But I still _need_ to know. I need to know why I was left behind. Once I know that, I can move on."

"Be careful, Rey." Luke warned. "That attachment to the truth you have could end up hindering you. Attachments can lead to obsessions, and those don't do Jedi any favors."

Rey turned to Luke. "When your father told you who he was, were you not determined to learn all that you could? And then to redeem him? Well, this is that for me. I _can't_ move on without this knowledge. I just can't. If I try I'll always be wondering. And I don't want that."

Luke was all set to say something else when he frowned. "We're not alone."

"What?"

"Someone else is out there, waiting for us. I didn't sense them at first, because they've been using the Force to mask their presence. And the fact that this planet is saturated with the Dark Side doubtlessly helped them."

"Knights of Ren?" Rey asked, quickly catching on to the fact that whoever was with them now were of the Dark Side.

"Maybe." Luke admitted. He drew his lightsaber. "Be ready for combat." He turned to the Revan siblings. "Can we count on your help?" The two nodded, and Luke cautiously exited the temple to investigate.

Looking around, Luke was not surprised to see a dark figure emerge from the underbrush. Then another. And another. And another after that. Within moments, Luke was surrounded by a small army of Knights of Ren who had come out of the jungle and formed a semi-circle against him. He couldn't tell exactly how many there were, but it seemed to be close to forty at least.

"You shouldn't have come out of hiding." The lead Knight of Ren said simply as he drew from his belt a black lightsaber hilt. "The Supreme Leader sensed your presence."

"Took him a while." Luke said with a grimace. "Perhaps your master's not as powerful as you think."

"It doesn't matter that you prolonged the inevitable." A bloodshine blade spat out of the black hilt, followed by dozens of others along with a few other blades of different colors, and a few more mundane melee weapons lined with cortosis so as to stand up to lightsaber blades. Slowly but purposefully, the Knights of Ren closed in.

"I do think it only fair to warn you all..."

The two Revan siblings stepped outside the temple, each of them drawing their own lightsaber hilt.

"...that I am not alone. And that the Force is strong with my friends."

Out of Firmus Revan's hilt was a blade the color of the summer sky, a magnificent sound of lightsaber blade springing to life, that was echoed by the fountain of forest green light from Luke's hilt, and then Firmus' sister Sudema, who's own lightsaber sang orange-bronze as the fiery colored blade burst forth.

And there they were; three of the most powerful Force users of their generation, and indeed of _any_ generation, all standing as one against the dozens of Knights of Ren confronting them. And then, those three Force users became four when Luke's Padawan Rey stepped forwards, double-bladed lightsaber hilt in her hands. Out of each end shot a blade identical in color to her master's. The lead Knight of Ren's eyes widened in surprise behind his helmet when he saw Rey's face.

"The girl..." he turned to his fellows. "Take her alive. Kill the other three."

In three blinding bursts of speed Luke and the Revan siblings were off, zipping into the horde of Knights of Ren, who were ill-prepared for what was coming towards them. Arcs and slashes of green, cyan-blue, and orange-bronze cleaved every which way, and Knights of Ren fell without resistance. For her part, Rey didn't have the speed of the other three, but she still ran in, twirling her double-bladed lightsaber to block blaster bolts fired at her by two Knights of Ren who carried hold-out blasters in the hand opposite their sword-arms. She actually managed to send one blaster bolt back into the shooter, hitting him in the shoulder and causing him to cry out in pain as he fell down clutching at his shoulder area. His fellow moved in to cover him, striking with his lightsaber. Rey blocked his opening strike. In that moment, it sunk into Rey fully that she was no longer fighting training droids or visions in a Jedi trial, rather she was fighting a Knight of Ren. A real, true, follower of the Dark Side of the Force who was as alive as she was, and who would not show her any mercy if she came up short.

Rey only had a brief moment to let this sink in before the Knight of Ren broke the saber-lock and struck out with his lightsaber again, Rey narrowly dodging the attack. At that point, basic survival instinct and the training Luke and the holocrons had drilled into her took over, and she thought of nothing but surviving the battle. There would be time to think about the rest later.

Keeping her saber-staff close to her, Rey blocked her foe's attacks as they came, parrying the increasingly aggressive strikes from her foe, who seemed to sense that she was inexperienced and vulnerable. Each attack seemed more invigorated than the last, more aggressive and savage. But Rey's defenses held firm, and finally she was able to land a twirling strike that nailed the Knight of Ren in his shoulder. He cried out in pain, and Rey followed it up with a strike across the torso, and then twirled her double saber again before driving it through the Knight of Ren.

The Knight of Ren gasped in shock and made a pitiful, gurgling noise as the lightsaber blade burned through at least one vital organ. Wincing in pain, Rey pulled the lightsaber blade out, and the Knight of Ren collapsed lifeless on the ground.

It hadn't been the first time Rey had killed a man, but even so, the vicious spearing of someone on her lightsaber blade aroused feelings of unease inside her. She felt...well, truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure _how_ she felt exactly. Just that she didn't enjoy the feeling.

 _Worry about that later._ Rey scolded herself as she narrowly ducked under a lightsaber blade aimed at her neck, the Knight of Ren evidently not heeding his leader's order to take her alive. Making note of this, Rey decided to not hold back herself, and after a bit of an exchange of blows, Rey finally managed to overcome her foe and drive him steadily back. Finally, she cut his lightsaber hand off. The Knight of Ren screamed as his severed hand fell to the floor. He tried to reclaim his saber with his free hand, but Rey blasted him back with a Force push, pleasantly surprised that she was actually able to knock him through the air with it. Lifting and blasting around objects was one thing, but she'd not counted on being good enough to blast another Force user through the air, even if he _was_ no more than a neophyte.

Another Knight of Ren charged her, and Rey bucked him over her shoulder and head, sending him crashing into the ground. Stabbing down with her double-saber, Rey drove a green blade into his chest and again experienced a feeling she didn't love. Pulling the blade out, she spun around to confront another Knight of Ren, this one with two lightsabers, one red and one that was actually silver. His helmet was near-identical to Kylo Ren's, and he had a tattered black cape attached to one shoulder pauldron.

"Thank you for thinning our herd of the weak and undeserving." He readied his twin blades. "But let us see if you can handle a _true_ blademaster, girl."

Rey blocked each of the blades on one of her double-saber's, but from there her opponent's acrobatic and erratic attacks from dual blades rapidly overwhelmed her and pushed her back. From her studies under Luke and the holocrons, Rey quickly identified him as using Ataru, and using it well. So well, in fact, that Rey found herself getting driven back more and more until finally, she tripped and fell backwards over the headless corpse of a Knight of Ren. Rey nearly dropped her double saber, but managed to catch it in her hands. A good thing too, because the dual-wielding Knight of Ren was pouncing on her, lightsabers spinning.

Deciding to stick with what she was _supposed_ to be specializing in, Rey outstretched a hand and called on the Force to not fail her in such a critical moment. It didn't. The Knight of Ren was sent through the air like he'd been shot out of a turbo-laser cannon, also dropping his lightsabers as he got blasted backwards.

Satisfied that he was out of her hair and also with her display of power, Rey forced herself back up. A Knight of Ren tried to run at her from behind, seeing that she was still regaining her bearings. A flaming flash of orange later and his head was gone, bouncing when it hit the floor as his body twisted and collapsed, the red flame of his lightsaber winking out as the hilt fell to the ground. Whipping around, Rey tried to find Sudema but couldn't make her out amidst the battle, instead just seeing a white blur that carried a fiery orange one, which left behind a trail of bodies as it went.

The whole affair didn't last much longer. The Knights of Ren had clearly not expected the added assistance of the Revan siblings, and their numbers, even as they had been, were not near good enough to handle three Force users of such stature at a time. The trio weren't even cutting loose with their Force power and still they were carving a swath, their saber skills alone being good enough for it. Though, one Knight of Ren tried to blast Luke with all the Force Lightning he had him. This backfired when Luke caught the lightning on his lightsaber before absorbing it into his living hand, and redirecting it more powerful than it had been seconds ago. The Knight of Ren got turned to ash and dust on the floor the moment said lightning got returned to him.

A burst of powerful telekinetic energy was unleashed from somewhere in the crowd, sending over half-a-dozen Knights of Ren flying. As their bodies hit the floor, Rey moved out of the way of one as he landed. She aimed the tip of one of her blades at his throat to discourage him from trying anything. The source of the Force Repulse, Firmus Revan, strode forwards. With one hand he lifted up the Knights of Ren's leader in a telekinetic strangle-hold and had him hover right in front of him.

"Enjoy this while you can, Jedi." The Knight of Ren spat defiantly as he struggled to get in air. "...S-s-Supreme Leader...won't ma-make...the same mis-mistake twice. He'll be ready for you two next time. He'll send as many Knights of Ren as he needs to."

"We'll be ready." Firmus Revan said simply before pulling the Knight of Ren into his lightsaber blade. The cyan-blue light burned a large hole in the area where the Knight of Ren's heart was, killing him instantly. As his body hit the floor, Luke frowned and said: "You shouldn't have done that."

"He was a Knight of Ren."

"He had been defeated and disarmed."

"We had no means of holding him prisoner, and I was not going to let him simply walk away." Firmus turned to Luke to look at him directly: "We are not Jedi, Master Skywalker. We respect your way of doing things, but they are not identical to our ways. Those who attack us with lethal intent are not guaranteed any mercy or safety."

"I understand." Luke said. "But I still don't like it."

"You don't have to." Firmus Revan said, though his tone was even and calm rather than hostile or defiant. Rey could not sense any anger in the man either, nor could she sense any great resentment in Luke. She smiled. The two men might not agree with one another completely, but they still respected one another immensely, that much was clear to her.

But, the display also alerted Rey to the fact that they still had at least one Knight of Ren alive, still at her mercy.

"Who are you?" Rey demanded. "What's your name?"

"Amaxas Ren." The Knight of Ren answered nervously, his tone noticeably lacking any spite or malice or defiance. Rey took that as a hopeful sign. "I...I...really don't want to die..."

"Neither do we, but it didn't stop you from attacking us." Sudema Revan pointed out. "Why should we spare you?"

"Because I'm unarmed and defeated?" He asked, even though Firmus Revan's killing of Amaxas Ren's leader had already made it clear that that was not reason enough for the Revans to let him go. Aware of this, he added: "...and because I know where the Supreme Leader is."

"You do?"

Amaxas Ren nodded. "We've all been trained by him to some extent. But...no Knight of Ren has ever said anything, have they?"

Luke shook his head. "No, the New Republic never did get any location out of any Knight of Ren. I assume you will be the exception?"

Amaxas Ren nodded again. "I am. And I know you can sense that I'm telling the truth. I'm not powerful enough to conceal it from you. So when I say I can tell you where the Supreme Leader is, you'll know I mean it."

Rey turned to Luke. "Master...if that's true...we could fight the Supreme Leader and overthrow him. Then the Knights of Ren won't have a leader!"

"Unless another rises to take their place." Luke noted with a frown. "I don't like it. Going after the Supreme Leader personally and trying to assassinate him?" He shook his head. "Too risky. Even if the Revan siblings were willing to back us, there's no guarantee we could do it. I don't know just how powerful Snoke actually _is._ For all I know, he could be more powerful than all of us put together, a weakling in disguise, or something in the middle. Even if the latter possibilities, he'd be surrounded by countless Knights of Ren. No. I'm sorry, but we can't risk a direct attack on him just yet...but, that doesn't mean knowing his location isn't helpful." He turned to look at Amaxas Ren. "Where is he?"

"Dromund Kaas."

Luke frowned deeply. Rey could sense frustration inside him, namely frustration at having not thought of the possibility sooner. Her knowledge on Galactic history still somewhat limited even after all of her lessons with Luke, Rey asked: "What is Dromund Kaas?"

"A planet in the Outer Rim territories. The Esstran Sector, specifically. It has a long, sordid history, having been a seat of power for some iterations of the Sith Order. I'm not surprised if Snoke decided to set himself up there."

"We should let the Resistance know."

"We will. But remember, we _also_ need to go to Vjun."

"I know, Master Skywalker."

"But, before we do even that, we need to meet with the Resistance. We'll take Amaxas Ren prisoner with us." He turned to the Revan siblings. "Is there any way we can keep in contact with you?"

Firmus Revan nodded. "We will hail you as needed. In the meantime, you may wish to go to the Resistance as soon as possible. They may send more Knights of Ren here if you stay too long."

"Agreed." Luke said, before turning back to Rey: "Get him up and keep an eye on him. We're leaving this planet."

 _Dantooine_

General Hux oversaw the burning village without so much as a blink or a raised eyebrow. Utterly dispassionate in the face of what his Storm and Flametroopers had done, but then he _had_ wanted this outcome as a means of convincing Dantooine's people (and the Galaxy as a whole), of the foolishness in standing up to the First Order. So really, there was no reason for him to be upset. All was going according to plan.

"Have Dantooine's people learned to cooperate yet?" General Hux asked the lead Stormtrooper present, his red shoulder pauldron denoting his rank.

"Some of them have bent knee to the First Order, yes. Others remain...'resistant'."

"Too bad...for them. Very well, keep pushing. Either they'll come to their senses, or they'll die."

"Yes sir..."

"Something on your mind, Officer?" Hux asked, sensing the reluctance in the Stormtrooper Officer's tone.

"Well, uh...I..." The Stormtrooper Officer seemed to hesitate, before saying: "...with respect, General, I think we may be going at this all wrong."

"Really? How so?"

"Well, General, I mean..." The Stormtrooper Officer fell silent and began again: "What I mean, General, is that maybe this approach doesn't work very well: maybe in torching these villages and killing so many people, we're just giving them _more_ reason to resist us, not less. I mean, if it were _my_ family and neighbors, I'd want _revenge_ against whoever killed them. I would be _more_ likely to fight back...sir."

"I see..." General Hux said. "...so, what you're saying is, you'd fight against the First Order?"

"No, General, that's not what I said..."

"Well, perhaps you're right." General Hux conceded. "Push these wretches too hard, and we'll have nothing to make use of later." He nodded. "Very well. We'll ease up the pressure then. Consolidate our power here and give them time to lick their wounds and reflect on what resisting the First Order has cost them. They rise up again, we'll crush them again. In the meantime, I think forced labor will keep their wills broken." Hux nodded. "Round up everyone we've since taken. I want them laboring away for the First Order before the week's out."

"Yes, General."

As the Stormtrooper Officer went off to carry out these new orders, General Hux went off to meet with a particular First Order scientist who was also on Dantooine at the moment, and also firmly in Hux's pocket. His name was Ulys Fyyar.

Ulys Fyyar was a somewhat young man of ultimately vague age who was the only child of the late Galak Fyyar, who had been a member of the Imperial Remnant and then after that an affiliate of the future First Order, though he was never truly a full member, having not fled into the Unknown Regions the way most of the remnants of the Empire had after Jakku. Instead, he had stayed behind and helped a Dark Jedi in his own doomed-to-fail efforts against the New Republic and Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order. He had died in 12 ABY as a consequence along with that Dark Jedi, but not before fathering a son, who unlike his father made the wise decision to lend his inherited genius to the First Order.

Like his father before him, Ulys Fyyar was a scientist and weapons-designer by trade. And he was one that General Hux had taken an interest in for not just that reason, but one other: he hated Force Users almost as much as Hux did. It was, after all, a Dark Jedi who had recruited his father into the misguided cause that had gotten both of them killed, and another Force user who had done the killing. It was very easy for Hux to turn that bitterness into a full-blown hatred for Force users of all stripes.

And now, General Hux had gone to check up on Ulys Fyyar's efforts against said Force Users.

"Ulys...what do you have for me today?"

"Mostly good news." The First Order scientist replied simply. He wore a uniform similar to that of his General, though his badge was obviously denoting of lower station. He also shunned both Hux's coat and his hat, preferring to keep his head bare, as he complained that the feeling of objects on his head was uncomfortable and distracted him while working. He had just a bit of a goatee, but it was faint. Like his father, he had fair skin and brown hair.

Ulys led Hux into the temporary workshop he'd set up while on Dantooine. The place was a mess as far as Hux was concerned, but Ulys always seemed to be able to tell where everything was. One such thing was the first of what Hux and Ulys hoped would be many; a large humanoid droid that stood roughly twice the height of the average human. Though not all of the armor plating had been fitted onto it, the pieces that had been were all a glossy black. The exposed circuits and wires were many and looked quite elaborate to General Hux's eyes (but then he'd never been an engineer and suspected that someone like Ulys would find it decidedly less convoluted). The head looked blatantly like the helmets of Shadow Stormtroopers (or just "Shadowtroopers") from the Palpatine Empire era, but it was indeed that, a head, not a helmet for a living soldier. Strewn about were different weapons, as only some of the droid's armament had been fitted into it.

"I give you, the first 'Purge Trooper'." Ulys said simply. "Not yet finished, but I'm getting there. The armor-plating is not just duranium, but also cortosis, so as to resist lightsaber blades. Their feet are magnetized in such a way that Force users should not be able to easily move them with their telekinesis, if at all. And of course, they'll be equipped with blasters, missiles, and even a few extra weapons as well."

"Purge Troopers, you said?"

Ulys nodded. "Yes. Named them after one of the elite Imperial trooper types from Palpatine's Empire."

"You say the can resist telekinesis, but what about other powers? The Jedi and Knights of Ren have many other ways to use the Force, you know."

"Yes, yes, of course I know. Fret not; I've taken some of them into account. As Droids, they will be immune to Mind tricks, and their processors and artificial limbs will be such, that not even the Force user's vaunted speed will be too fast for them to track. Force users who try to manipulate the environment or the weather against them will find their alloy tough enough to take most unfavorable weather conditions, and heat-resistant in the case of fire. Finally, I am even working on a means by which they can absorb energy, and maybe even redirect it or use it to super-charge themselves. This would protect them from particularly energy-based Force attacks, such as Force Lightning."

"See to it that that gets done." General Hux said harshly. "I'll not have my secret weapon against the Knights of Ren be as vulnerable to electricity as any other droid."

"It's a difficult thing to pull off, even for me." Ulys defended. "Also, do you recall saying that you wished for them to have a full-body force-field like the ones used by the Separatist's Destroyer Droids?"

Hux nodded. "I do. The Jedi of the Republic-era feared those droids for a reason."

"Yes, well, I need to be blunt with you: these droids I'm working on cannot be built cheaply. We've already invested an exorbitant sum just to get me everything I need for this one here. Once we go into mass-production, the cost will become outrageous. Adding the full-body shields of the Destroyer Droids will only make it moreso. So, I felt it necessary to cut corners and give them a _smaller_ energy shield they can activate over one wrist."

"I did not give you permission to do that."

"You will when I show you the amount of credits saved."

"Money is no object."

"It is when we're _not_ currently the dominant power in the Galaxy, and have already invested huge sums into creating our fleets and arsenals for our men. And, lest I not forget, _Starkiller Base_." Ulys put extra emphasis on that last one, to highlight what a catastrophic waste of resources it's destruction had meant for the First Order. "We simply don't have bottomless pockets as you seem to believe." He made a grimace. "Unless you intend to start imposing taxations on trade routes?"

General Hux shook his head. "No, no, of course not."

"Here's the proof..." Ulys handed General Hux a datapad. He took one look at it and frowned at the listed price for the amount of full-body energy shields needed for an army of Purge Troopers.

"Per Droid?" Hux demanded, disgust filling his tone. Ulys nodded. "Really?" Ulys nodded again.

Scowling, Hux threw the datapad away. "Fine, fine! So be it! But if these droids prove a failure because you 'cut corners', you'll lose more than your position."

"Spare me the empty threats, General. I'm the best man for this job and you damn well know it."

" _Don't_ test me, Ulys. Your last name makes you valuable, but _not_ irreplaceable. Remember that."

"I'll keep it in mind." Ulys said without batting an eye before adding: "Anyway...I have everything I need to finish this first Purge Trooper. Once it's done, I'll test out it's weapon and armor systems. Then I'll make a few copies once you get me the necessary resources, and _then_ I'll send those prototypes out to hunt some Jedi."

Hux shook his head. "No, don't do that. The Jedi are too scattered right now, and I don't want Snoke or his Knights of Ren learning of their existence. I'll get you what you need, but I want a full army for when, or if, I move against Snoke. We'll worry about using them to kill Jedi and other Force users later. _After_ we get rid of the Knights of Ren."

"I got in this to kill _Jedi._ "

"And you _will,_ but right now, The Knights of Ren are currently the largest, most wide-spread, and most powerful collection of Force users. They need to be the main priority for now."

"Fair enough." Ulys conceded with a nod. "But you better make sure they never find out, because it will be some time before I can get an army of these things ready, or even just a few."

"I know. Don't worry; I keep winning victories for Snoke and the First Order, I'll stay in his good graces. We'll go from there."

 _The Resistance Fleet_

Suffice to say, when Luke and Leia reunited for the first time in many years, there was quite a bit of emotion to be had. At first, the shock of looking one another in the eye, face-to-face, was such that it rooted both of them in place and left them both speechless. A mix of emotions had welled up inside each of them, long suppressed feelings of hurt, pain, love, and friendship all coming to the forefront. Neither one managed to keep back the tears, and after the initial shock ended, they were embracing one another tightly.

"I'm sorry about Han." Luke said softly, the first thing he managed to say and the only thing he thought he _could_ say.

"I know..." Leia said just as softly, the tears now coming uncontrollably as she thought about that too.

"I shouldn't have left. I should never have left..."

"There's nothing you could have done." Leia affirmed, continuing to hug her brother tightly. "Ben made his choice. We couldn't make it for him."

"I know. But I _could_ have stopped him."

"Stop him now." Leia said firmly, looking her brother dead in the eyes and making it clear with both that look and her tone that she was quite serious, and recognizing that, son or not, Kylo Ren needed to answer for everything he'd done.

Luke nodded. "I will. And so will my Padawan." Luke stepped to one side to indicate Rey. She smiled upon seeing Leia again and embraced her.

"It's good to see you again, Rey."

"You as well, General Organa."

Leia smiled warmly. "Please..." she said gently, like the kind grandmother Rey had never known or had. "...call me 'Leia'."

Rey nodded. "Okay, Leia."

Leia turned to look back at Luke, wiping some of the tears out of her eyes as she did. "I take it your choosing now to come isn't an accident?"

Luke shook his head. "No. I came out of exile because my hand was forced. Leia, Ben has been collecting Sith Holocrons. And he may be using their knowledge to build another super weapon called 'The Mass Shadow Generator'."

"Mass Shadow Generator?"

Luke nodded. "A super weapon from the Mandalorian Wars that ended that war...and all life on a planet. That was over a thousand years ago. Think of how much more dangerous a new one could be."

"How do you know he's making one?"

"Revan's Force Ghost told me. He was the one who came up with the idea and ordered it used on the Mandalorians to end the war."

"Sounds like an extremist."

"Well, Revan used his to end a war against the Mandalorians over a mostly uninhabited planet. I doubt Ben will be so restrained in his usage of a Mass Shadow Generator if he builds one. We all know what the First Order did with Starkiller Base. They'll not hesitate to do it again with the Mass Shadow Generator."

Leia frowned. "This is...troubling. What information do you have on this weapon?"

Both Luke and Rey produced the evidence each of them had collected from Yavin IV and Coruscant respectively. "This is everything. Take it to the other leaders and scientists in the Resistance. They all need to analyze it and learn everything they can. If Ben makes a new Mass Shadow Generator before we can stop him, then we need to be prepared to destroy it quickly."

Leia nodded. "I agree. But I do think we should get everyone together for this. I want them all to know at once, and I want _you_ to be the one to tell them."

"Very well. But we _can't_ dawdle on this. I don't know how far along Ben is in making a new Mass Shadow Generator. For all I know, he's already well on his way to completing it."

 _Rattatak_

After going to Ord Mantell to assess the First Order's "progress" there, General Hux next went to the planet Rattatak, as he had intended. Upon arriving, he was pleased to see that already, labor camps had been set up, and First Order Stormtroopers were leading along large lines of people of all ages that were chained together. Occasionally, the Stormtroopers would slam their rifle into a man or woman's back or shoot at their feet as incentive for them to walk faster, a sight that Hux gave a nod of approval to.

Most of the slave labor was being done to mine the natural resources that seemed to be in abundance on Rattatak (another reason Hux felt the planet was valuable to the First Order). Ores and metals that could be converted into more armor for ships and soldiers both, as well as possibly fuel sources too, once the excavation drills were fully set up and began doing their job. In the meantime, the slaves would help construct said excavation drills when they weren't mining for the resources.

A Rattataki representative approached General Hux and bowed "We are most grateful to receive your visit, General Hux of the First Order."

Hux nodded. The man in front of him was overall human in physiology, but he was an alien. Unlike most members of Palpatine's Empire, Hux had no great grudge or vendetta against non-humans, but that was out of pragmatism, not egalitarianism. If an alien fought and killed and died for the First Order or else proved their worth and usefulness in some other way, well then, who was he to turn down their assistance? Again, he was in no way egalitarian or concerned with "equal rights" or any of that other nonsense the moral crusaders in the New Republic were always going on about, but he was not an impractical man either, and in his mind, turning down assistance from aliens who were competent was impracticality and stupidity at it's finest.

"I understand you had something...'special' for me?" Hux asked with a raised eyebrow. The native nodded vigorously. "Most definitely, great General. Follow me."

General Hux was led down a hallway that seemed to have been carved into a mountain. Indeed, past the stone hallway was a large, spacious interior that did indeed feel like a hollowed out mountain in size. And within the arena of this spacious cave, was an all-out fight to the death.

Everywhere General Hux looked, gladiators, mercenaries, and assassins of all types were shooting, stabbing, and just plain tearing one another to pieces. A Nikto drove a vibro-knife into some fool Gamorrean's neck, only to be cut down with contempt by a Twi'lek swordsman. Another Twi'lek drove a force-pike through a droid, spearing it and hoisting it aloft before a lucky throwing dagger hit her in the back and caused her to fall over. Another Nikto in purple opted to fight dirty by bringing a blaster rifle to what was clearly chiefly a melee brawl, but it did him little good when an Assassin Droid decided to fight fire with fire by putting a blaster bolt clean through his forehead.

And so on it went. Men, women, aliens, and droids all battling to the death as General Hux's host explained: "We know you seek great warriors. Well, our planet is one that forges them through constant trials. We are accustomed to violence, General. I trust you will see the truth of this down below."

"Yes, your warriors certainly have a talent for butchering one another in rapid succession." Hux noted in a sarcastic deadpan. "But _I_ favor professional soldiers who are well-drilled, follow orders unfailingly, and fight cohesively. All I see down below are rabble and animals. Somewhat talented rabble and animals, but rabble and animals none-the-less."

"Scorn not their motley appearances, General." The host said. "Some of them could serve you well as assassins or bodyguards, if not front-line soldiers."

"We'll see." General Hux said, though he was clearly unconvinced. Nevertheless, he reasoned that he might possibly get a decent enough hitman out of the spectacle, and in any event, he had nothing better to do at present, so he decided to see if any of these warriors would be worthy of serving him. His initial assessment didn't change overmuch though; most of them were, as far as he was concerned, not worth his attention at all. But, a select few did stand out to him as potential assets:

A Rodian gunslinger who used a pair of blasters expertly the way a painter had his brush or a musician with his instrument. Blaster bolts flew every which way, cutting down scores of other gladiators.

A human male clad in the fatigues of an obscure assassin order wielded quarterstaff and vibrosword in tandem, humiliating, battering, and skewering several other men who tried to gang up on him, impaling one with an axe on his sword and tripping another with a sweep of the staff before driving it into the man's face to knock him out. The third and fourth men, each armed with a pair of knives, were similarly overcome easily.

A Trandoshan brute who was unusually large for his species grabbed a droid and tore it's head clean off before savagely biting into the machine's circuits. A man stabbed him in the back with a vibroblade, but the Trandoshan just whipped around and effortlessly snapped the man's neck with one clawed hand. Bellowing with rage, the Trandoshan bowled over a trio of Duros brothers before beating an unlucky mercenary to death with his bare hands before he had a chance to shoot him.

The Assassin Droid who had killed the Nikto bi-sected a Zabrak with a slice of a wrist-mounted blade while it continued to use it's blaster to gun down other gladiators.

And finally, a Bith of all things, threw explosives with reckless abandon, blowing away the last of the gladiators that were not the other champions. When the dust settled, only those five remained. They were all set to turn on one another before General Hux called out: "STOP!" The Gladiators halted immediately and turned to look up at him. "I've seen enough." He nodded. "I believe I could find some use for you all."

However, no sooner did Hux say this did the Bith's neck suddenly snap seemingly on it's own. As his corpse fell to the ground, the other four whipped around. The Rodian and Assassin Droid opened fire, but a red lightsaber blade sprang to life to meet the shots as they came, sending two back at the Rodian, one of which took one of his blasters out of his hand, and the other hit him in the side and brought him down. The Assassin Droid was staggered by the deflected shots sent it's way, before the source of the red blade crushed it into scrap with telekinesis. The Trandoshan charged the figure and lost his head for his troubles. That just left the human assassin.

"STOP!" General Hux ordered, knowing full well who it was. Sure enough, Kylo Ren looked up at General Hux and smiled coldly.

"Hello, General."

"I was going to make use of these men."

"Well, from the looks of it you still have two, if you get the Rodian medical attention in time."

Hux frowned. No sooner was he back in his life was Kylo Ren readily reminding General Hux why he hated both him and Force users in general.

"What are you doing here, Kylo Ren?" General Hux demanded.

"Seeking you out." Kylo Ren answered simply. "The Supreme Leader wants us leading the offensive against the rest of the Galaxy. And that is what we will do. _Together._ "

Hux frowned. Kylo Ren's emphasizing that they would be working together was to his ears, a promise by Kylo that he would be watching him closely. Which would make it even harder than before for him to plot against Snoke and the Knights of Ren.

 _Get those Purge Troopers built,_ _Ulys._ Hux thought. _And make it **fast**._

Deciding to keep up appearances for now, General Hux said: "So...I take it you completed your training under Snoke?"

Kylo Ren nodded. "Indeed I did. I am now _far_ more than I was before." It was true. Kylo Ren's power had grown immensely since Snoke had finished his training, and his lightsaber skills had also improved significantly. He was confident that, going forward, he would have no difficulty from fools using weapons they knew nothing about and neophyte Force users, injured or not. Remembering that he'd had to work for his near-victory against Rey and even his victory against her friend filled Kylo Ren with shame, and he was determined to make up for those humiliations.

"I look forward to our working together again, General." Kylo Ren said in a mocking tone. "With any luck, it will go better than it did with your, heh, 'pet project'."

 **Author's Notes: Usual bits of Star Wars Trivia:**

 **1\. The "Heart of the Guardian" and "Mantle of the Force" lightsaber crystals are available in the Yavin IV space-station for _Knights of the Old Republic_. Their colors are indeed (respectively) orange-bronze and cyan-blue (which really just looks the same as any other blue lightsaber). Their abilities were elaborated on in the _Jedi Academy_ sourcebook for the Star Wars RPG, and since Revan may or may not have used them depending on how you play KotoR, I thought it only right to let his descendants have them as the crystals that power their lightsabers.**

 **2\. Silver lightsabers do exist in both Legends (Corran Horn and the Imperial Knights in _Star Wars: Legacy_ ), and Disney's continuity (the elderly Jedi who's lightsaber hilt is concealed in a walking stick, and who helped Ahsoka try and find her lightsaber after it was stolen). **

**3\. Ataru is Lightsaber Form IV. Yoda and Qui-Gon's form of choice (at least in Legends anyway), but was also used by Obi-Wan in TPM (makes sense, as he was Qui-Gon's student), and sometimes by Luke and Anakin (including whenever they dual-wielded). Not every dual-wielder uses Ataru, but it is a common enough occurrence.**

 **4\. Dromund Kaas is of course the dreary jungle world capital of the Sith Empire in _Star Wars: The Old Republic_ and affiliated stories. Figured it was a good place to set up Snoke. I am aware that he will probably get an official "lair" in _The Last Jedi_ , but I can easily make it so that that is a "secondary base" planet. Don't see why Snoke can't have more than one planet under his control. So until he gets an official planet, Dromund Kaas will be his base of operations, and I'll move the action to the "other planet" as needed.**

 **5\. Galak Fyyar is a major villain in the video game _Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast_. Like his descendant in this story, he's an Imperial scientist villain who uses his brainpower to help the Big Bad of the game, including by making Cortosis battle armor (much like how the villain here plans to reinforce Hux's Anti-Force Droids and troopers with Cortosis armor).**

 **6\. The Purge Troopers Ulys makes are based off of the ones from _The Force Unleashed_ video game, not the Disney-Canon Purge Troopers, who are a different type of Imperial soldier and are not droids. However, in respects to Disney's canon, I do reference the latter here, the idea being that they are where Ulys got the idea for what he'd name his creations. But again, said creations are based on the Purge Troopers in TFU (who were badass, but also some of the most annoying enemies in the game!)**

 **And yes, I took a light shot at _The Phantom Menace_. Truth be told, I actually _don't_ hate the SW Prequels, though TPM is definitely the weakest of the three by a solid margin, and not just because of Jar-Jar. Still, even that Star Wars movie is one I like portions of, and I don't mind the overall story despite my jab at it in this chapter. It's just not as exciting as the stories in the other SW films (unless you count the Holiday, Droid, and Ewok specials, which make TPM look like TESB).**

 **And double yes, I was inspired by the 2003 Clone Wars cartoon for the scene on Rattatak, which is where the gladiator match episode takes place. The second Clone Wars cartoon may have more story and depth and characterization to it, but I still love the original's animation, action scenes, and just overall being a grand old time. Thought I'd celebrate it here.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Trials of Skill

 _The Resistance Fleet_

After reuniting with Leia, Luke got two additional reunions, namely of a certain pair of Droids he hadn't seen or spoken to in years.

"Oh, Master Luke! It's so good to see you again at long last!" C-3PO said, walking up to Luke as briskly as his characteristic "waddle" movement allowed. If he had both the articulation and personality for it, Threepio would have shaken Luke's hand vigorously right then and there. R2-D2 too, was happy to see Luke, beeping and whirring, and making quite a bit of noise.

"Good to see you again too, Artoo." Luke said with a soft smile. He realized all at once that he had almost forgotten how much he cared about these two Droids, how long they'd stood by him, and how incredibly loyal they had both been through so many trials and tribulations. But he'd locked all of that away when he'd gone into exile. Suppressed it. Like putting a priceless treasure in a chest and then burying the chest under several large mounds of sand. But now that treasure had been unearthed, and the years of being without it had made it shine and sparkle all the brighter. Simply put, Luke was, for the first time in a long while, _happy._

"Oh, Master Luke, it's been so different with you gone! I've found myself often struggling even more to know what to do! You always had an idea of what I should do, Master Luke, and for that I..."

"It's okay, Threepio. It's alright. I understand." He shot his sister a knowing look, and she just smiled and shrugged. It was only then that Luke took notice of C-3PO's red arm. "I see you got a new arm..."

"Oh, yes I did, Master Luke. _Quite_ the adventure that was. Why, I thought for sure I would not survive it! Would you like to hear the story?"

"Perhaps some other time, Threepio." Leia said. "Right now, Luke needs to tell the other leaders of the Resistance some important things."

"Oh, well alright then. But, if you have some extra time then..." But Luke and Leia were already heading into the meeting room, and Rey followed right behind.

"...huh. Back after so many years, and now already leaving me again..."

" _Don't overreact._ " Was R2-D2's reply, though of course only C-3PO actually understood him. C-3PO's vocabulators made a very credible imitation of a wistful sigh. "I really did miss Master Luke. And with Captain Solo now gone, I feel that Princess Leia could use her brother back in her life again."

" _It's not as though he's leaving forever."_ R2-D2 pointed out.

Suffice to say, the mere return of Luke Skywalker caused quite an uproar. Most of it was positive, though there was more than one person who shouted at the old Jedi, demanding to know where he had been when the Galaxy needed him, and why he had turned his back on the Galaxy he had sworn to protect.

"Everyone be quiet!" Leia shouted, in that characteristic bluntness of her's that nothing and no one had ever been able to curb. If anything, age had only diminished her already low tolerance for niceties and pretense. When she wanted her men to shut up and listen, they'd shut up and listen. That was just how it was.

"I know I have been gone a long time..." Luke began, as he did noting sadly that speeches never were his strong suit. "...but I came here now because the Resistance and the Galaxy as a whole are facing something that could be just as bad as Starkiller Base. It's a super weapon called 'The Mass Shadow Generator'. If Kylo Ren or anyone else in the First Order is allowed to build it, it will mean more destroyed planets, and more murdered billions."

"What is the Mass Shadow Generator?" Admiral Ackbar questioned. "And what is to be done if it does indeed get constructed?"

"A superweapon. The original one was built and used during the Mandalorian Wars. When activated, it sucked a large number of ships from both fleets into a vast gravity vortex that was powerful enough to crush them all onto the planet the battle had been taking place over. It ended up disrupting the core of the planet, twisting and distorting it and wiping out or horribly mutating what little life had been on Malachor at the time. Revan and Meetra knew what the Mass Shadow Generator would do, and so had chosen a relatively uninhabited planet on purpose. If the First Order builds one, we can all rest assured that they will not be so picky about what planet they choose to use the weapon on."

"If this weapon is as powerful as you suggest..." another Resistance leader noted. "...they could easily use it to wipe out or severely cripple our fleet."

Luke nodded and said grimly: "That is quite true, and I think they probably _will_ if they get it."

"We can't afford a loss like that!" A third Resistance leader, a Duros said, panicking. "Our fleet's not like the New Republic's, _or_ the Old Republic's during the Mandalorian and Clone Wars. They unleash something like what you're describing on us, we won't have anything left to wage a war with! The First Order has us outgunned as it is!"

"All the more reason why we need to find the Mass Shadow Generator and stop it." Leia said firmly.

"How do we even know it's real though?" Demanded a fourth Resistance leader, this one an admiral. "What proof do you have?"

Luke and Rey each produced what they'd gotten, Luke setting the holocron down, and Rey the data-drive. "Everything we have on this thing is in those." Rey said firmly, choosing then to speak up and refusing to let all the pairs of eyes on her intimidate her. After seeing and nearly being killed by a Terentatek, the eyes of so many on her simply didn't scare her. "We're telling you the truth. And Master Skywalker is right; we _need_ to find this thing and keep the First Order from finishing it. Or destroy it if they already have."

"And do you know where it might be?" Leia asked. Rey shook her head. "No, we don't."

"We can't spread our forces thin looking for it." Ackbar pointed out. "We need some idea where it might be."

"Deep in First Order territory most likely." Leia said grimly. "We know the First Order built Starkiller Base and their fleet _somewhere,_ we just don't know _where_ exactly."

"That would be a good place to look." Luke said. "But you can't just rush in. One of you said it yourself, you're already outgunned."

"That might change soon, actually." Leia noted. "I recently contacted two of my men. They say that one of two warring factions of Mandalorians might be willing to work with us against the First Order, if we help them find something called 'The Darksaber'."

"I know what that is." Luke said with a frown. "I _also_ know something of it's significance to the Mandalorians. I'd advise against trusting them. Honor or not, they're rarely on the up and up."

"Normally, I'd agree. But if what you say is true, we may need to take the First Order head-on soon, and to do that we need more support than what we have. The Mandalorians that want to help us could be that. We all know how skilled they are, and if they give their word, they'll keep it. And, my daughter is with them."

"Jaina's with them?" Luke shook his head. "She made a less-then-stellar choice in allies. But, I can see your point. So, if we find the Darksaber for them, these Mandalorians will help us?"

"They said they would, and bad as they are, Mandalorians always keep their word if they're something other than Death Watch."

"I seem to remember from my studies that the Crusaders and Neo-Crusaders didn't always keep their word either." Luke retorted. "I don't like this, Leia."

"Maybe we could get help from other groups." Rey suggested. "Surely there are others who would help us against the First Order? After what those monsters have done..."

"There are several different groups we could go to to get help from, yes." Leia said. "We actually have already been trying with some of them. Mass Shadow Generator or not, we need more people in our corner. We've sent envoys to the Echani, Onderon, and elsewhere. But so far, we haven't been making much progress."

"Why not?" Rey asked in a horrified tone. "Don't these people know what the First Order is? Why don't they just help?"

"It's not that simple, Miss." Ackbar said apologetically, cutting in. "Many of these places do have their own legitimate problems. We cannot expect them to just drop everything and sign on to help us in a losing war after just one or two meetings. Not a practical or reasonable thing. We need to _convince_ them to help us by helping them."

" _We_ could do that." Rey suggested. She turned to her Jedi Master for encouragement. "Right, Master Skywalker? That's what the Jedi do. We get people to work together and build harmony between different groups."

"We do, yes." Luke said. "But remember, Rey; there are only two of us, and numerous planets and factions that need our help."

"Then we start with one and keep going." Rey said firmly. "We _have_ to do something, Master Skywalker. You said it yourself."

Leia smiled and nodded approvingly. "You've been teaching her well, Luke."

"Well, before we do any of that, we first need to go to Vjun. There are still things our father left behind in his castle there, and I don't want Kylo Ren to get them if he hasn't already. My Padawan and I will go there first. _Then_ we'll help you recruit allies."

"Fair enough." Leia said, before adding quickly: "But be careful on Vjun, and don't take too long there. If they really _are_ making another Mass Shadow Generator, then we only have so much time left."

 _The Hand of Complicity_

"I take it you had a hand in getting yourself put back at my side?" Hux asked Kylo Ren with a frown.

"It was the Supreme Leader's desire." Kylo Ren pointed out. With his helmet gone with Starkiller Base, he now kept his face bare, showing off his now even paler complexion, yellow eyes, and diseased visage for all (including Hux), to see.

"Yes, but I assume you still persuaded him."

"You never did much like me, did you Hux?"

General Hux shook his head. "Speaking honestly, no. I have intensely disliked and detested you almost from the start. I don't like your way of doing things; too reckless and hot-headed, always thinking with your lightsaber instead of your wits, if you have any. When _I_ use force, it is with _purpose_. A pick and a hammer working in tandem. You, Kylo Ren, are just a hammer."

"I'd be careful how you speak to me." Kylo Ren said simply.

"We both know the Supreme Leader wants me here as much as he wants you. Either of us makes a visible move against the other, we'll incur his displeasure." Hux turned around slowly to face Kylo Ren: "So, like it or not, 'my friend', we are stuck with each-other for now. An arrangement unsatisfying and distasteful to both of us maybe, but necessary to eliminate our mutual foes."

"Well, hopefully we can do a better job at that then we did at Starkiller Base."

"As I recall, it was _you_ who was left a wounded and broken wreck there, not me."

"Because you've always been too much of a coward to dirty your own hands."

"Just as _you've_ always been too much of a mad Kath Hound to keep yours out of the filth when you can benefit from doing so. You've no sense of pragmatism."

"What you call 'pragmatism' I call your excuse not to fight and risk your own neck."

"Just remember who it was that suggested that Starkiller Base be used." Hux said darkly. "I ordered it to fire and destroy multiple planets. Billions extinguished. I regret none of it. Make no mistake, Kylo Ren; I'm pragmatic, _not_ merciful. I intend to finish what I started with the New Republic fleet and Hosnian Prime; the Resistance and all others who cling to that way of thinking and reject the First Order's way, will be swept aside."

"Finally, something we agree on." Kylo Ren said with a slight, sadistic smile. "I happen to know that the Resistance has been sending out envoys to try and convince others across the Galaxy to help them against us. Onderon is one such place."

"Then we go there and make clear to Onderon what happens to those who defy us."

"Where was all that talk about being the hammer _and_ the pick?" Kylo Ren asked with a raised eyebrow. "If we move in and slaughter the Onderonians indiscriminately, that will make them _more_ likely to join the Resistance, not less. We must...'invalidate', the Resistance in the eyes of Onderon's people. Make it so that they wish to join us instead of them. Then the Resistance not only fails to get allies, but _we_ get some of our own. Two victories accomplished at once."

Hux frowned. "Would seem I underestimated you." He acknowledged bitterly. "I take it you recommend we go to Onderon next?"

"I do." Kylo Ren said simply. "Mustn't let the Resistance convince them to side with us. We must win them over ourselves."

"How do you propose we do that?"

"Onderon's been a...'chaotic' place since the fall of Palpatine's Empire. The collapse of the puppet-regime Palpatine had put into power there with nothing to fill the void, has ensured they've been in near-perpetual unrest and on-and-off civil war, revolutions, and coups for, oh, about thirty years now." He made a cruel smirk. "Now, if someone were to, say...'uplift' these poor people from their predicament, they might, possibly, become very grateful afterwards."

General Hux made a cruel smile to match Kylo Ren's. "I believe I can see where this is going." He nodded. "Yes, I like the sound of that. Let's go to Onderon and...'uplift' them."

 _Ord Mantell_

"Owen!" His mother called out to him. "Owen, come inside!"

Owen nodded and did as he was told, making his way into the modest abode on the barren planet they had been hiding out in for quite some time. Upon entering, he saw his mother there, with her fading red hair, mildly lined face, and fairly modest and simple white robes that could not be more in contrast to what she had worn in her younger years.

Her name was Mara Jade. But to Owen Skywalker, she was simply "mom" or "mother".

"You wanted me?"

Mara nodded. "Yes. I can sense that the First Order will be making another attack soon."

"So we just hide out here?"

Mara shook her head. "No, we don't do that. But we don't put ourselves out in the open until we're ready to attack, either. I can sense that the First Order will be moving on this city tonight. Most likely to 'make an example' out of the people here." Mara's disgust at the concept was evident in her tone, and it was a sentiment her son shared.

"Haven't they slaughtered enough people in enough towns already?" Ben asked.

"Apparently not."

"We could have done more to help the other ones." Owen pointed out.

"No, Owen, we couldn't have." Mara said sadly. "Too far away, and we can't take on the entire First Order military presence here on our own. But we _can_ do something about the attack that's coming."

"Won't we still be outgunned?"

Mara smiled. "Not this time. This city has people who can fight. We'll be working with them."

"I...sense you know one of them."

Mara nodded. "I do, yes. Something of an 'old friend'."

Owen raised an eyebrow at that but said nothing. He merely clutched tightly the handle of the lightsaber he'd made with his parent's guidance. A lightsaber he'd previously used in sparring sessions only (ones in which each of his parents whilst holding back had dealt him sound thrashings regularly), and the occasional bit of disarming against some fool or training droid or another. Never had he used it in a real, true, "kill or be killed" fight before.

Sensing her son's anxiety, Mara pulled him in close for a hug and said: "I know what it feels like. I know how _I_ felt my first time. And it wasn't a kill in self-defense either."

"Do you still feel guilt?"

"Of course. Every day. Him and the others like him. I haven't enjoyed _any_ time I've taken a life. You won't either. But if you do it only when you know you must, when you have no other choice...it makes it easier. _Much_ easier. I promise."

"I hope so..."

Mara smiled. "You'll do fine. _Especially_ when I'll be out there with you." She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them abruptly.

"What is it, Mother?"

Mara made a soft smile, half of pleasant surprise the other of gentle amusement. "It's your father, Owen. He's on the move again."

 _Vjun_

As _The Millennium Falcon_ came within sight of Vjun, Rey could feel the Dark Side all at once, and so could Luke. However, with Vader's now over thirty-year absence from the planet, the Dark Side's influence on Vjun had waned and weathered somewhat. His castle had fallen into some amount of disrepair, and even though Dark Side artifacts and treasures doubtlessly still remained, it was not as it had been when Vader made it one of his prime residences. It was still a Dark Side nexus, but now only somewhat.

This meant though that, if any Knights of Ren _were_ on Vjun, they'd be at least a little bit augmented from basking in the dark aura of the place. As such, Luke had been further training Rey in lightsaber and Force combat almost non-stop since they'd left the Resistance fleet. Luke was determined to get her as refined and skilled in Shii-Cho and Niman as he possibly could in the limited time. Rey's taste of battle on Yavin IV and her coming out still alive had had an interesting effect on her; the presence of more actual combat experience now made learning the rest of what Forms I and VI offered come that much easier to her (though she suspected her ever-growing and strengthening connection to the Force had something to do with it too).

In any event, Rey was growing in skill and power rapidly. Even though Luke was still beating her without exception in their spars, and still holding back against her, she was at least now seeming to give him better fights.

"Very good, Rey." Luke said after swatting her double-bladed lightsaber out of her small hands for the eighth time straight. "You're becoming a challenge to me."

"Yeah, while you're still holding back." Rey said with an amused smirk.

"I _also_ have the advantage of knowing how you'll fight though." Luke pointed out. "Logically, that advantage should cancel out my disadvantage of holding back. And yet, _still_ you are doing better against me. At the rate you're going, soon I _will_ be legitimately challenged pulling a win against you."

"I doubt that." Rey said. "I can't believe you're still so good with a lightsaber..."

"Because I'm old, or because I was in exile for years?" Luke asked with a gentle smile.

"Both."

"I kept in practice. Wasn't much else for me to do alone on Ach-To. And I knew that Ben and Master Yoda's saber skills had deteriorated somewhat because they'd both kept out of practice whilst in exile. I didn't want to make the same mistake, in case any of the Knights of Ren found me. So I stuck with it. I can assure you I'm still the lightsaber duelist I was over fifteen years ago."

"I believe it." Rey said. Certainly, her body and long list of defeats attested to both facts. Her arms were now sore, and she was again panting and sweating profusely. Luke allowed her a good rest to replenish herself, and then they'd be going down to Vjun.

When _The Millennium Falcon_ set down on Vjun, Luke and Rey both felt the Dark Side more acutely like a noxious, choking mist all around them. The feeling wasn't quite as bad as it had been on Yavin IV (as again, this planet had become _less_ of a Dark Side nexus than Yavin IV currently was), but it was still very much there. And that wasn't the only thing bad about the planet.

"Damn." Luke hissed. "Acid rain. Vjun hasn't changed at all since I was last here." He turned to Rey: "Have you been practicing your Force Barriers?"

"Haven't had much time for it with you training me in lightsaber combat so much." Rey admitted.

"Alright then, I'll make one for both of us." Luke said. Sure enough, with a wave of his hand, he conjured a translucent barrier of pure Force energy that served as a natural umbrella against the acid that came down steadily.

"I thought the point of my being a Jedi Consular was that I'd favor the Force over lightsaber combat? I know you want me to be good in both, but it feels like we haven't had much time to focus on my Force power..."

"You're right." Luke admitted. "We haven't. But many Dark Siders love lightsaber dueling and aggressively seek it out against any opponent. I knew that if you couldn't defend yourself well enough with a blade, you'd never last." He paused, then added as the two kept walking: "I'm impressed with how you handled yourself on Yavin IV. You took down more than one Knight of Ren in lightsaber combat. And all of them were feeding off of the Dark Side aura on that planet like Banthas to the feeding trough. That makes it even more impressive."

Rey smiled. "They were neophytes though, I could tell. I could sense their inexperience." She sighed. "I didn't like killing them."

"Nor should you. The moment a Jedi actively _enjoys_ killing, even the wicked, he's fallen down the same dark path as his enemies. We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard than that. Jedi _must_ be dispassionate in those moments."

"I understand, Master Skywalker." She paused, then added: "I hope I don't have to kill anyone else."

"I fear that may not be possible." Luke admitted. They stopped in front of a large boulder that blocked their paths. Based on the size of it, Luke for one guessed it to be about 2,000 pounds or so. He turned to Rey: "Well, you wanted to further hone your Force abilities. Let's start with trying to lift that and move it out of the way."

"I don't think I've ever moved something that heavy before..."

"Well, here's your first opportunity to. The principles are the same, Rey. This boulder may be bigger and heavier than other things you've lifted with the Force, but to the Force, the difference is inconsequential. The difference, as Master Yoda once told me on Dagobah, is only in your mind."

"Not every Jedi can lift any object of any size." Rey pointed out.

"That is true, even the best of us have limits." Luke confirmed. "But I _know_ how strong the Force is in you, Rey. And I know that _your_ limit is not this boulder in front of us right now. You can do it, Rey. You just take the principles and mindset you use when you've used your telekinesis before, and apply it to the boulder. Account for the greater size and weight, and concentrate. Above all, _concentrate._ If you feel the object, and concentrate on it, as you do any other time you use the Force, you can do it."

Rey nodded, outstretched a hand, and did as Luke told her.

As had been the case on Yavin IV with the severed tree, the boulder resisted. But this time, Rey concentrated more strongly, remembering that to use telekinesis properly, one had to truly reach out and connect with the object and not just treat it like firing a tractor beam at the thing. She needed to, if not become intimate with the boulder, feel it through the Force. Imagine it's rough surface against her gloved hand, or bare flesh. Finally, the boulder shifted and wobbled forcefully, and seconds later it lifted off the ground. Heart soaring as success was within reach, Rey refused to let up, keeping her focus squarely on the boulder, and was pleasantly surprised at how it lifted up higher, higher, and higher, all the while her finding it _easier_ to keep it up rather than less. Soon, she'd lifted the boulder over ten feet into the air. Smiling with satisfaction, Rey moved it horizontally and dropped it in a nearby body of acidic water caused by the rain.

"Well done, Rey. I told you you could do it."

Rey turned to Luke and smiled. "Thanks, Master Skywalker."

"Just remember, Rey: if I could learn to do it, then you can learn to do it. I may be a Jedi Master now, but when I was your age, the idea of becoming so seemed implausible. Ludicrous, even. I had wanted to become a Jedi like my father, but I'd never thought I'd get this far."

"I bet your father would be proud of you."

Luke nodded and smiled. "He is."

The two continued to walk through the rocky, barren landscape of Vjun in silence for a few more moments, all the while the acid rain doing nothing against Luke's ever-present Force Barrier. But then, they came within sight of a large, imposing structure. The faint but ever-present Dark Side aura suddenly became far more pronounced, like following a slight stink to a massive cesspool where the odor was far more potent. Turning to Luke, Rey said: "There it is, Master Skywalker. How do we get in?"

"Through the front doors." Luke said with a gentle smile before a large, two-legged walker came within sight. Luke zipped to cover, taking Rey with him. As they peered out from the other side, they got a better look at the thing; it resembled an AT-ST, but with a different, smaller head, more well-armored legs with clawed "feet", and powerful looking laser cannons on the bottom and sides of it's "head". Sensing no living presence within the vehicle, Luke realized that it was, in fact, not a vehicle at all. He turned to Rey: "That thing is a droid. I sense nothing within it's shell. Even Artoo and Threepio have echoes inside them. Not that. Just a mindless machine."

"Looks like the AT-STs the Empire used to have." Rey said, remembering as she did pictures and holonet videos of them fighting Rebel/New Republic men that she had seen in her childhood. "Guess the First Order decided they liked it better without the pilot."

"I'm not surprised. War-droids tend to not feel anything like remorse, doubt, or regret. And they'll do anything they're programmed to. Perfect for a commander who wants utterly loyal killing machines. It's why the Separatists during the Clone Wars were so fond of their droids."

"So does this mean we _won't_ be going through the front?" Rey asked with a bemused smirk.

"Well, I could probably take it out easily enough. But if that thing's here, that means the First Order has already gotten here. And I don't want to let them know we're here as well. At least, not before we get into my father's old castle. Follow me. There should still be another way in."

 _Ord Mantell_

It was dusk when a large number of Stormtroopers converged on the Ord Mantell town that Mara and Owen had chosen as their place to lay low. With them were Flametroopers for setting fire to the buildings, and for swiftly cutting down any who attempted to flee or resist, war-droids modeled loosely after the Separatist Destroyer Droids, only more humanoid in overall appearance and without the force-field. But they had similar blasters in place of hands, and head designs that looked as though they were ripped straight from the Separatist engineer's schematics.

In all, it was apparent what was to happen; the overall collection of minions would serve as a show of force, and if the population of the city refused to bend knee and join, then the Stormtroopers would open fire, the Flametroopers would burn to the ground everything that could be burned to the ground, and the War-Droids (aptly called "Cleansers"), would pick off any stragglers that the Stormtroopers missed, along with anyone brave enough to stand up and fight. This was, in fact, _exactly_ what had been done in several other cities on both Ord Mantell and Dantooine thanks to General Hux's brutal subjugation tactics. The latter had shifted to keeping the populace working and cowed, but it seemed that those on Ord Mantell had yet to follow suit. So the massacres continued.

But tonight, was the night when they'd stop.

A First Order Stormtrooper officer with red pauldron walked up to the town, and demanded to see it's leader. Knowing he wasn't to be refused, the town leader came out to face the officer.

"You know why we're here."

"I do."

"This doesn't have to turn bloody. Just bow down and promise that your people will join our ranks, and everything will be fine. The First Order always needs more men."

"For tasks just like this one, I'd imagine." The town leader said simply. He got a rifle butt to the jaw for his remark.

"Watch what you say, old man." The Stormtrooper Officer hissed. "I'm not bluffing here. My men have already laid waste to a couple different villages on this stink-hole planet. I got my fill of this after the first one. But people like you always want to be stubborn. And then my men have to punish everyone for the actions of a few fools. Don't be one of those fools. Bow down and pledge your town to the First Order _now."_ The Stormtrooper Officer raised his blaster rifle, aiming it at his chest. "Otherwise I can't be held responsible for what comes next."

The town leader looked up at him defiantly and said: "Of course you can."

A blaster bolt whizzed through the air and hit the Stormtrooper Officer square in his helmeted head. He dropped dead instantly, and his men scarcely had time to comprehend the sight before more blaster bolts from different directions came speeding down into the horde. Stormtroopers and Flametroopers dropped like big, white stones, and when some of the Flametrooper's fuel tanks were hit, it caused fiery explosions that set the troops unfortunate enough to be near them on fire, and sent the rest into even greater confusion and disarray.

As the Stormtrooper Sergeant that had been acting as second-in-command to the Officer moved forwards to try and contain the situation, it was then that two robed figures strode forwards, one in white, the other in brown. Seeing them, and the cylindrical devices they drew, the Stormtrooper Sergeant hollered over the clamor that had started: "All troopers! Focus your fire on..."

The two robed figures ignited their blades, one bursting forth as a fountain of amethyst, the other singing blue fire.

"...on the _Jedi!_ "

A barrage of blaster bolts were unleashed, but Mara and Owen created tapestries from the movements of their lightsaber blades to meet the blaster bolts as they came and deflect them. Several of the deflected shots went back into the Stormtroopers and Cleansers that fired them, killing the former and short-circuiting the latter. By now, the source of the sniper shots revealed themselves to be guerrillas of all backgrounds. More of the same came out from behind covers and hiding places to charge the enemy force directly, unloading shots from blaster rifles, repeaters, and other weapons while their fellows continued to provide covering fire with their sniper shots.

"Hold fast!" The Stormtrooper Sergeant ordered. "Do _not_ break formation! They're just rabble!"

"These 'rabble' are killing us, Sergeant!" Shouted one of the Stormtroopers, FN-1179, as he narrowly avoided getting a blaster bolt to his neck.

"And if we break formation, they'll swarm us in seconds! Hold. _Fast!_ " The Sergeant ordered, before a Trandoshan with a blaster carbine shot him in the leg. Grabbing him, FN-1179 dragged him along, shooting his blaster one-handed. Next to him, FN-1178 died to another blaster shot from the Trandoshan. The Cleansers, mindless machines that they were, just advanced without thinking or fear, unloading a merciless torrent of blaster bolts the whole while. The scarlet lances burned many holes into many unfortunate guerrillas, but in the end, superior numbers for the latter proved enough to overwhelm the droids that had no sense of self-preservation, the Cleansers eventually all getting blown to bits by the combined firepower of so many guerrillas shooting at them.

Forcing himself back up, the Stormtrooper Sergeant angrily shot at one of the guerrillas and missed. He shot at another one, a Rodian, and put a blaster bolt through his heart. The woman he'd missed with his first shot paid him back by shooting him with a blaster bolt that went clean through his armor and chest and came out the other end.

With both the Officer and his second dead, it seemed that the First Order platoon was now leaderless. But then the _true_ leader of the party showed up, having decided that, with two Jedi still loose, and both his officer and his droids gone, it was time to stop directing things from afar, and get more..."physical".

Owen scarcely realized that a dark presence was zipping towards him before reacting on instinct just in time. Nudged along by the intuitions of the Force, he brought his blue lightsaber blade up to block the green blade that smashed down with the intent of splitting his head in two. As Owen did what he could to hold the saber-lock, he looked out at the source of the green lightsaber:

Even though the lightsaber blade was green, the wielder was from his outfit and Dark Side aura, unmistakably a Knight of Ren. He was bald, green-skinned, and yellow-eyed. Owen figured he was a Mirialan, and the signature "chin tattoos" of black diamonds confirmed it.

"I thought it would be all too easy to just waltz in here, and raze this town..." The Knight of Ren said with a very refined and classy sounding accent and somewhat high-pitched voice. As though he were a foppish noble instead of a deranged sociopath. As Owen nearly failed to keep the Knight of Ren from breaking the saber-lock he added with manic glee in the same high-pitched tone: "...and it is!"

As Owen looked around him, he could see that the First Order troops, perhaps invigorated by the arrival of a Knight of Ren, were starting to push back against the guerrillas, gunning down several (including the Trandoshan from before), and pushing back the woman and most of her remaining fellows. This distraction allowed the Knight of Ren to finally break the saber-lock. He'd have surely decapitated Owen then and there, had the son of Skywalker not been so quick-footed. Narrowly ducking under the green blade (which _did_ manage to singe off his top hairs), Owen put his focus back on his dark foe, knowing that another distraction like that last one could easily mean his death.

He struck out with his blue blade this way and that. His foe's heavy, purposeful, two-handed swings of his lightsaber, as if he were using a vibrosword instead of a green blade, told Owen that this Knight of Ren used Djem So. Owen smiled. That suited him just fine; it was _his_ form too, as it had been his grandfather's during _his_ Jedi days.

However, in the exchanging of heavy, powerful blows that followed, it became clear quickly who had the better training; Owen's parents were both masters of lightsaber dueling, and even after renouncing Emperor Palpatine's ways and becoming a Jedi, Owen's mother had always loved a good fight, and had imparted through both genes and training that same enthusiasm to her son. Once he realized that this Knight of Ren was not, in fact, vastly above him in skill, he relaxed a bit, and quickly found his stride; he was batting away blows easily, side-stepping others just as easily, and becoming so comfortable he even started integrating some Ataru acrobatics into his predominantly Djem So based style. Owen's specialty was the latter, but he had been practicing the former too since before the Temple on Yavin IV fell, and he was getting good at it...as demonstrated by how another acrobatic attack, his lightsaber an azure blur, knocked the Knight of Ren's green lightsaber out of his hand. Yellow eyes widening in shock, he tried to call on the Force to call back his saber, but someone must have seen that the Knight of Ren was disarmed, and shot him before he could get his lightsaber back. As he collapsed, Owen went after some of the Stormtroopers, who he found easy to disarm and take down non-fatally. One drew an electrified weapon of some kind, indicating one of the riot control Stormtroopers. He and Owen traded a mere two blows before Owen took the Stormtrooper's weapon-arm off between elbow and shoulder.

The Stormtrooper screamed in pain and fell to his armored knees, looking in horror at the stump where his arm used to be. Deciding that the man was no longer a threat, and not wishing to watch and see if he died from his wound or not, Owen zoomed forwards again, becoming a brown blur as he took out several more Stormtrooper's blasters. A pair of flametroopers saw him and unleashed spewing jets of fire at him. Owen merely raised a hand to disperse the flames before they could reach him, before pulling the two men towards him. With a single, expert slash, he severed the weapon hand of both men. A Force push after that blasted both of them backwards and away from him.

As the last of the First Order troops were killed or sent packing, most of the guerrillas gave chase, not about to let any of them escape and report to their leaders what had happened. However, as this occurred, a spinning red light tore through the air, decapitating three of the guerrillas before returning to the black gloved hand of it's owner; another Knight of Ren.

"Ah. I see Somminick Ren and his men failed. Pity." The Knight of Ren spotted Owen, gave a salute with his crimson blade, and promptly got into a fencing stance, holding the lightsaber blade low to the ground with one hand while the other was behind his cape. All of this told Owen that his style was Makashi.

"I am Ekas Ren. Know that you die by _my_ hand."

The exchange of lightsabers that followed wasn't terribly long; Makashi never was a good choice against Djem So, and for all of Ekas' obvious skill, all of his ripostes, thrusts, and elegant, sweeping motions, Owen took them all in stride, blocking each strike as it came no matter how swift they were, and replying in kind with hammering strikes that Ekas was ill-prepared to deal with. By the time he realized he was facing someone who's form was inherently good against his own, Owen had singed part of his black cloak. Snarling, Ekas Ren blasted Owen back with a Force Push, leading to a pause in the fight and giving him time to switch styles. He switched to Shii-Cho and came at Owen again, using strikes that were less elegant or refined but also more practical against Owen's Djem So. Suddenly, what had been a very one-sided lightsaber duel became less so, though Owen still held his ground well as Ekas let loose with attack after attack.

Owen forced Ekas Ren's lightsaber away from his head, and cleaved down with all his might. Ekas Ren met that strike and blocked it just in time, but the impact still sent him stumbling backwards. Not about to let up, Owen pressed his attack, advancing purposefully and hammering away with more Djem So strikes. Ekas Ren did what he could to block the attacks, his lightsaber turning into a scarlet fan as it moved back and forth, and finally he managed to land an attack near Owen's leg. Owen narrowly kept from getting his foot chopped off, gave a two-handed thrust in response, and ducked and spun to avoid the overhead slash that followed Ekas Ren blocking Owen's stab. Closing the gap again, the two traded a few more blows before, finally, Owen delivered an upwards slash at an angle, cleaving through Ekas Ren's chest and leaving an ugly diagonal wound.

Owen stared in shock at the injury he'd dealt, and so did Ekas himself. He gave a faint, gurgling whine before his red lightsaber blade vanished, the hilt fell out of his hand, and he collapsed.

Owen Skywalker had killed his first man.

 _Vjun_

One trip through some decidedly foul-smelling sewers and sub-levels dedicated to garbage disposal later, and Luke and Rey were in the base-level of Darth Vader's castle. In here, the Dark Side taint on Vjun was at it's absolute strongest, even with the castle's master having been redeemed and dead for decades now. Still some of his influence remained, and between that and whatever Sith alchemy he'd put into designing his castle, the place was still tainted. Indeed, Luke said: "Be careful, Rey. Any Dark Force users inside this castle will be more augmented than they would have been outside. My father's influence hasn't left this place. Not completely."

"I understand." Rey replied. As they walked, Luke noted: "After this is over, Rey...I want to take the time to teach you Force Barrier."

"I thought you told me once that all Force users have that?"

"They do, to a point. But not all Force users can do what I just did, creating a barrier for both of us to protect us from steady acid rain indefinitely. No, something like that requires training. As you've chosen to become a Jedi Consular, I'll want to take the time to help you hone and develop abilities other than basic telekinesis."

"I understand, Master Skywalker."

"Good. But, first thing's first; we have to survive _this_."

Rey chuckled lightly at her master's rather blunt attempt at humor, and the two kept walking silently. They encountered no resistance making their way through the bottom floor of the castle, but they did discover as they got up to the second floor large deposits of green crystal that were periodically giving off electricity. Luke frowned at the sight.

"Those look like kyber crystals, but there's something wrong with them..."

Rey advanced cautiously, only to instinctively step back as all at once one of the crystals unleashed a powerful, intense beam of energy that went through an opening that had apparently been made for it. Looking out briefly through that opening, Rey realized that the energy beams were actually charging up something inside. From the brief look she got of it before she had to move out of the way of another beam, she reasoned that it was a generator.

"I think we found what's powering this castle." Rey said. Luke nodded. "Yes, I should have figured. Father would have wanted a way to keep this place functional for as long as possible. Kyber crystals and the energy concentrated in them would be a perfect choice for long-term fuel, if you can keep them from exploding. Their energy isn't meant to be harnessed like this. I suspect there were at least a few 'accidents' before they got it right."

"Looks like kyber crystals can be used for a lot more than just lightsaber construction." Rey observed.

"Yes. They were part of what made the Death Star's super lasers as well."

The two Jedi continued their path past the castle's power-core and the kyber crystals that's energy powered it. They leaped up to a way out that would have been out of reach to those not Force-attuned, and made their way through a sliding set of steel gray doors. On the other side, they met their first resistance.

Two Knights of Ren rapidly drew red lightsabers as a fair number of Stormtroopers opened fire as well. Luke disarmed the latter of their blasters, sending many of them plummeting into the parts of a gap that the room's see-through bridge didn't cover. Another wave of the hand, and Luke had implanted a very simple suggestion into all of the Stormtrooper's minds: time to take a nap.

For her part, Rey engaged both of the Knights of Ren. Her double-bladed lightsaber proved well-suited to blocking each one's strikes on one of her two green blades. She kicked back one Knight of Ren and delivered a downward slash to the other that killed him. The second one came running back in. Rey parried his attacks easily before kicking him down. She hesitated to plunge her double-saber into him, remembering how it had felt to do it to the one on Yavin IV, but when he got back up and nearly severed her legs at the knees with a slash as he rose, Rey snapped out of her moment of hesitation and reminded herself that no Knight of Ren would show her mercy, and that they'd all made their choice to serve the Dark Side. She'd need to treat them as she would fight a rabid beast or an unfeeling droid, or she'd never get by as a Jedi. So with that in mind, she waited for the Knight of Ren to come at her again, and when he did she twirled her double-saber, and a green fan later and the Knight of Ren's head had been taken off, Rey all the while grateful that the man had been concealing his visage with a helmet.

Past the bridge was a control room manned by a couple First Order officers and guarded by several Stormtroopers. Luke and Rey knocked every last one of them out with their combined telekinetic power the minute they saw them. As their bodies hit the floor, Luke frowned and shook his head. "This isn't good. The First Order have clearly set up a base here."

"If they've been here a while, it could mean that the Knights of Ren already found everything there is to find here."

"That would be a very bad turn of events..." Luke trailed off as he realized he sensed something. "There's someone else here."

"What?"

"Not in this control room. In this castle. Someone else is in this castle besides us and the First Order and the Knights of Ren. Something...dark. Feral. It's a Dark Sider, I'm sure of it. A very angry one. Consumed by hatred, actually. Using it to fuel themselves. I sensed the same thing on Yavin IV, but I thought it was just the Knights of Ren plus the bad aura of the planet. But now that I'm sensing it again here, with no Knights of Ren around, I'm sure it's something else. We're being stalked, Rey. By a very, very powerful servant of the Dark Side."

"Kylo Ren?"

"No, I'd have recognized Ben if it had been him. No, this is...someone I've never sensed before. Until Yavin IV that is."

"Then we need to get out of here."

"We will, but first we need to check the upper levels of the castle. I want to be absolutely sure there aren't any other leftovers of my father's for the Knights of Ren to find. If we can keep them from getting even _one_ major artifact or weapon of my father's, then that's a victory."

"So that means we're going deeper into the castle?" Rey asked.

"Yes. And then I'm going to destroy it."

"What? How?"

Luke smiled. "How else, Rey? Through the Force."

Exiting the control room and taking a lift up brought them to a second control room. As before, First Order officers and Stormtroopers lay within, and once again, they offered no real resistance against two Force users of such power. In the hallway outside the control room were two Stormtrooper Officers who Rey killed with a single throw of her double-saber. Past that, was another lift. They were all set to take it when part of the floor began to shake and shudder violently. Rey struggled to maintain her footing, while Luke used the Force to render himself perfectly immobile, like a statue almost. However, this did him no good when the part of the floor he was on broke off completely and gave way, sending Luke plummeting into the void below.

"Master Skywalker!" Rey shouted, rushing to the broken off edge to see where Luke had fallen, even though she knew she could never see that far down. The seconds passed, all the while despair rising inside Rey, before she heard Luke's voice in her head: " _Calm yourself, Rey. I'm banged up, but I'll live. You must continue on."_

"But Master Skywalker, where are you!?" Rey demanded, sweat forming around her head and tears threatening to come out of her eyes.

 _"Listen to me, Rey; you **must** keep moving now. Whoever destroyed the part of the floor I was standing on wanted to separate me from you. And it's the same dark presence I mentioned earlier. It's not just stalking us, Rey. It's hunting us. And it knows it's got a better chance against just you than it does against both of us together. You **need** to keep moving. Do you understand, Rey? Go, now!"_

Nodding vigorously and wiping away the tears in her eyes, Rey said: "Y-yes, Master Skywalker. I will."

So it was that Rey kept moving, going up onto the next floor of Darth Vader's castle. And as she went up, a dark figure that had been watching her carefully, since she'd left the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, in fact, zipped across the gap to get to where the young Jedi had been, and followed her up.

 _Ord Mantell_

"You did well." Mara said to her son as they and the remaining guerrillas surveyed the damage of the battle. For her part, Mara had killed more Stormtroopers than everyone else put together, which was saying something. Dozens of First Order men and droids had been taken out, though many guerrillas had died as well. Still, the First Order's decision to send in so many troops as a show of force had only ended up costing them more than if they'd sent in a smaller amount of troops (as they would not have needed many to massacre people they had assumed were helpless).

Mara walked over to the female guerrilla who had survived the whole ordeal and shook her hand. "Good to see you again, Sabe."

"You as well, Mara." Sabe said as Owen walked up to the two.

"This is my son." Mara elaborated. Sabe smiled at him and stuck out her hand for him to shake.

"Pleased to meet you." She said. "My name's Sabe."

"Owen." He replied before asking: "That name...it sounds Naboo."

"That's because that's where I'm from, originally." Sabe said with a smile. "Naboo was Emperor Palpatine's homeworld, so we didn't all realize just how bad he was until it was too late. But _I_ recognized it. Joined up with the Rebellion and have been fighting my whole life, ever since."

"How do you know my mom?"

"She tried to kill me once." Sabe said with a laugh, even though it wasn't a joke, and Owen could sense it.

"We've come a long way since then." Mara admitted with a smile. "It's good to have you here, Sabe."

"You as well, Mara. Does this mean we can expect help from other Jedi?"

"Not at present, no." Mara said, before adding: "Although...I think my husband may be helping again."

"Luke Skywalker? Luke Skywalker is alive?"

Mara Jade nodded. "Yes. And I sense that he's come out of hiding at long last." Her smile widened. "And it seems he's got a Padawan now too."

 _Vjun_

Finishing her walk up the stairs, Rey found herself in a large, spacious room that was mostly black with white, red, and yellow lights. She scarcely had time to take it all in before some Stormtrooper variant she hadn't seen before spotted her, and took off on his jetpack, his blaster rifle firing away. Rey blocked the shots as they came as soon, regular Stormtroopers came in as well to lend the jet-trooper support.

" _Rey, what's going on?"_ Luke's voice came through clearly in her head. Rey smiled, happy to still have him watching her back in a sense, even though he wasn't physically there. All at once, Rey decided that telepathy was one more power she wanted him to teach her.

"Nothing I can't handle." Rey said confidently as she deflected blaster bolts back into Stormtroopers easily enough, though the jet-trooper remained elusive. The officer in charge of the Stormtroopers fired with his own blaster rifle, and Rey returned the shot, sending it into his unarmored chest. As he dropped, Rey reached out with the Force to try and "grab" the jet-trooper with telekinesis, but his speed plus her needing to divide her attention between him and the remaining Stormtroopers, kept her from succeeding.

Deciding to focus on the Stormtroopers and worry about the jet-trooper once he was her only concern, Rey blasted the rest of them to the sides, and pulled their blaster rifles away with more telekinesis. The jet-trooper tried to gun her down as she was doing this, but Rey spun her double-saber like it was a propeller blade, creating a spinning green "wheel" that caught all the blaster bolts and sent several of them back into the jet-trooper, which finally knocked him out of the air. However, with his armor having been sturdy enough to weather the shots, he wasn't quite dead. Seeing this, Rey disarmed him of his blaster with the Force, grabbed it, and shot him one last time, which killed him. She then threw the blaster away.

Going through a door down a hallway, Rey wasn't surprised to find a pair of Knights of Ren blocking her path. No longer allowing herself to feel hesitation against such foes, she dealt with them swiftly, disliking their deaths but knowing they were necessary, and pressed on without a word. Taking a lift, she found another Knight of Ren waiting for her, this one with a crossguard lightsaber like Kylo Ren's. He too, fell swiftly.

Walking out of the room, Rey realized that she'd actually been taken to the walkways overlooking the large room where the bodies of the jet-trooper and the others still lay. Seeing a row of Stormtroopers coming towards her from the other walkway, Rey blasted them back with a Force push, the men falling like dominoes.

Past the Stormtroopers, and within spitting distance of the door, Rey's path was cut off by a new figure who came out through the doors to challenge her.

He was a man of about average height, with a fairly muscular and physically fit build. He was dressed in some fairly heavy-looking garments with bits of light gray armor worn over a blue bodysuit. Black gloves covered his hands, and a black mask and hood his head. Only his yellow eyes and the area around them were visible. All at once, Rey realized she sensed something... _off_ about him.

He looked at her blankly for a few moments, saying not a word. Then, abruptly, he drew a lightsaber that yielded a crimson blade, it's hue standing in stark contrast to his partly blue attire.

He came at Rey almost without warning. She raised her double saber to meet his strikes, but they came harder and faster than she'd been expecting and she started to backpedal. Taken aback by how this man's fighting skills were clearly of a higher level than the fodder Knights of Ren she'd fought up to that point, Rey's surprise left her vulnerable, and the man in blue exploited this without mercy, hammering away. One strike got past her defenses and grazed Rey's upper arm. Gasping in pain, Rey struck out impulsively, and he easily ducked her attack. Shaken out of her moment of surprise, Rey got her head back in the fight, deflecting and dodging the man in blue's lightsaber attacks.

 _He may be better than the Knights of Ren I've fought so far..._ Rey reasoned as she continued to trade blows with him. _...but I can still take him._

Finally, after narrowly leaping over an arcing slash the man made and landing, Rey did a spinning strike with her double-saber that was a bit too unorthodox a move for the man in blue to block effectively. A downwards diagonal slash that Rey followed with managed to cut the man in blue down.

" _Don't know who or what he was...but I hope I don't run into anymore like him_." Rey thought as she used the Force to heal her injury and kept going through Vader's castle, going down hallways, taking lifts up. After a while longer, Rey came to a hallway with a glossy black floor, a red overhead light, and a view of the lower parts of the castle Rey had already traversed via the windows built into the walls of the hallway. In the center of it was a man dressed the same as the one in blue, only for him the blue parts were red. Like the first one, he drew a red lightsaber.

Rey tried to blast him back with a Force Push, but incredibly, the man was not fully blasted back, instead his Force Barrier weathered the hit just enough to send him sliding back across the ground but not flying backwards through the air. Scoffing at Rey's effort, the man in red outstretched a hand and fired a blast of lightning Rey's way.

Rey had been taught about this by Luke; Force Lightning. A powerful attack to be sure, but usually not indefensible. Holding out her doublesaber, Rey met the bolts of lightning and let her lightsaber blades do the rest. Huffing in annoyance at the display, the man in red moved in with his lightsaber. Rey quickly found his skills to be about the same as his blue-clad counterpart, and for a while the two exchanged lightsaber strikes back and forth fairly evenly before the man in red unexpectedly kicked Rey back. She recovered quickly from the kick, but couldn't block the next Force attack the man in red unleashed, namely wisping trails of blood-colored energy that seemed to sap away Rey's vitality as they hit her.

"You are _weak._ " The man in red hissed.

Willing herself to stand back up, Rey leaped over the man in red's charging slash, landed behind him, and pressed her attack. Their lightsaber duel lasted a little longer before Rey slashed sideways, cutting the man in red across his entire chest and killing him instantly. Past him was a chamber bathed in a blood colored light where another pair of Knights of Ren waited, and with Stormtroopers as back-up. Rey blasted back the latter with a Force push, and engaged the two Knights. As had been the case with all the others she'd already cut down in Vader's castle, they didn't last long, the first dying to a single slash to his chest before he could so much as level a strike, and the second curiously fighting with a blaster but as a result dying when Rey deflected his shot. Taking a lift out, Rey came to what seemed to be a hangar. Mercifully, there were no First Order troops, Knights or Ren, or those mysterious men in blue or red there. What she _did_ see though, was what she recognized as being of the TIE family of vehicles, but with a different wing design than the standard.

 _Must have been Darth Vader's._ Rey guessed correctly, before moving on. She expected another attack any second, but thankfully, it didn't come, and she made it out of the hangar without incident. Around then, she heard Luke in her head:

 _"Rey, where are you now?"_

"I just got out of a hangar, Master Skywalker. There doesn't seem to be anyone else here."

" _Well, I'm making my way through the lower levels of the castle now. I'm doing what I can to catch up with you, but the First Order knows I'm here and they've been throwing men at me non-stop. Great big waste of life it's turning into down here._ "

"What am I looking for up here, Master Skywalker?"

" _Go to the upper-most floors of the castle. My father's throne room, isolation chamber, museum, and workshop could and will have things there the First Order and Knights of Ren could use. I want to make sure they're all searched before I destroy this castle."_

"What happens when I'm done searching?" Rey asked.

 _"Meet back up with me, and then I'll get us out of here. Then I'm bringing the castle down."_

"I'll enjoy seeing that." Rey said with a nod. "I don't like this place at all."

Past a few more parts of the castle that were mercifully devoid of an enemy presence, Rey took another lift up, and came into what she realized was that workshop Luke had mentioned.

It had seen better days. Everywhere Rey looked, bits of droid pieces, mechanical limbs in various states of quality and condition (but mostly poor), machinery of all shapes and sizes, and just plain garbage littered the floor and covered up every inch of the large table in the center of the place. Rey shook her head. Even growing up on a planet like Jakku, it was still a sight to behold, and not in a good way.

 _Who knows how long they've been dumping rubbish here?_ Rey wondered.

"I sense you, Jedi..."

Rey's heart caught in her throat and she gasped as she realized someone else was in the room with her. Whipping around in a cold sweat, Rey saw another of the men in red reveal himself, looking exactly the same as the one she'd already killed. He'd somehow cloaked his presence from her. A crimson lightsaber appeared in each hand, and next thing Rey knew, she was facing a fairly frantic and erratic assault from her foe. She figured he was using Ataru, as the Knight of Ren on Yavin IV with the silver and red lightsabers had done, and like there, Rey found herself losing ground fast. Her enemy seemed to be everywhere, leaping about like mad, rarely pausing for anything. Rey kept up her defenses admirably, but for every strike she parried, it seemed like she'd then have to spin around and turn to deal with another attack from elsewhere.

They got into a saber-lock, each of his red blades pressed hard against one of her green ones. Rey forced his lightsabers down and away from herself before leaping backwards. He fired out blasts of Force Lightning but Rey deflected them just in time. He closed in and she finally managed to nick him in the shoulder with one of her blades. A few more exchanged blows later, and Rey slashed him in his upper chest, and at last the man in red collapsed, his red lightsabers dropping to the floor.

Rey gasped in relief at her victory, realizing all at once how close it had been. She knew why; these men were not only much better than the neophyte Knights of Ren she'd been dealing with previously, but were just as augmented by the darkness of Vader's castle as those Knights were, making them even more dangerous. Rey wasn't sure how many more of them she could face before finally one of them came along that proved to be just too much.

 _I'll worry about that later._ Rey reasoned, even though she knew she was just stalling because, whether she admitted it or not, she was _afraid._ She was afraid she'd die there, in Vader's castle, alone, without her master at her side. She knew they needed to be absolutely sure no more dark artifacts got into the Knights of Ren's hands, but even so, Rey could feel her resolve weakening with her stamina. How much more did she need to do? How much more could be asked of her before it became too much?

Deciding she ought to look around while she was in the workshop, Rey searched everywhere for anything that had the taint of the Dark Side on it most acutely. She found nothing of note. Just machinery and junk, and what she realized were old, discarded limbs of Darth Vader's or else replacement limbs that were ready if he needed them but had never been worn. Those were especially unsettling, but strictly speaking, she found nothing that the Knights of Ren would find worthwhile. If there had been anything there they'd want, they'd already taken it.

Frowning, Rey pushed on. She came into a spacious area that she realized was a training room. Walking forwards, Rey examined the controls that she reasoned would provide their late master what he desired as far as honing his skills and power went. Turning it on, she saw options for all manner of training droids, beasts, and an option for "sapients" that she realized must have been people. She couldn't imagine anyone wanting to be Darth Vader's training dummies willingly, which told her that, most likely, he had honed his skills now and again on captives brought in and made to fight him against their will.

 _Horrible._ Rey shook her head in disgust and kept moving. She exited the training room none-too-slowly, suspecting that at least some of the training droids Vader had used were still active, and not fancying her odds against whatever was considered good enough to give _him_ a challenge.

 _I'm so glad I'll never have to face **him.**_ Rey thought.

Taking another lift up, Rey made her way through another part of the castle that seemed to be deserted. She didn't walk much further before at last she came to a large, spacious room with a glossy black floor with intricate silver-white designs. A large window on the far side of the room offered a view of Vjun's surface (such as that was), and standing in the center of a light gray rectangular area of the floor in front of the window, was a large statue of Darth Vader himself.

Rey gasped upon seeing the awe-inspiring visage of the Sith Lord standing there. Looking up at the statue of him, Rey realized that she hadn't felt so small since she was a little girl. And not just because the statue was easily around six meters tall; there was a power and presence to Darth Vader, something Rey had understood ever since she'd first heard the stories as a little girl. Ever since she'd first shuddered and curled up into a ball when she first saw the holonet videos of him. The towering, wraith-like figure who had cut down enemies of the Empire without mercy or hesitation, who had been perhaps the single most prolific killer of Jedi other than his master to ever live. And one of the most powerful wielders of the Dark Side and skilled masters of lightsaber combat to ever live. And yet, there had been a tragedy to him as well, sadness, loss. As though Rey could perceive the good man he'd once been and ultimately died as, but was no less aware of the terrifying force of destruction he'd been in-between.

And looking up at the statue, into the masterfully sculpted and carved representation of Darth Vader's iconic helmet which continued to haunt the nightmares of sentients the Galaxy over long after his redemption and death, Rey could feel those same feelings. There, in the heart of his castle, Rey sensed and felt the power Darth Vader had exuded, as well as the power and the ferocity and the fury, but also the deeply repressed grief and sadness and pain.

Taking note of a great, slate gray object in front of the statue that looked almost like a sarcophagus, Rey cautiously walked up to it. She saw that it could be opened, but it would not. Trying to open with the Force, Rey found that it would not. She considered using her lightsaber blade to cut it open, but the object turned the blade.

Stretching out both hands and concentrating, Rey willed the object to open. It did not. Turning to one side, Rey realized that there was a body nearby that she hadn't noticed before; another of the men in red, with very visible slash marks across his body from a lightsaber, and his own pair of lightsabers laying slashed to pieces on the ground. Looking at him, Rey perceived that he'd been taken by surprise, slashed quickly and mercilessly before he had had a chance to react. Such a feat would have required someone who was not only fast and skilled, but had had the element of surprise.

But who had done it? Near as Rey could tell, these men and the Knights of Ren both fought alongside the First Order, which meant that all of them were on the same side. She didn't sense her master anywhere nearby, so he couldn't have been the one to do it. But then who was it?

Looking more closely at the body, Rey realized that there was a puddle of blood beneath it, and she quickly realized that he had fallen from the walkways and ramps leading up higher into the castle. Meaning he'd been standing guard up top, and whoever had killed him had caused his body to fall. But who?

Little did Rey realize, that the perpetrator had in fact followed her discreetly into the room, zipped up to the upper walkways, and killed the man standing guard there before he could do a thing. Rey didn't know any of this because, this same figure who had been stalking and hunting her and Luke as the latter had warned her, had been using the Force to mask their presence the entire time, and Rey's senses, good as they were, were not advanced enough to detect her pursuer.

But just as Rey was all set to move off and go up the walkways, the stalker made their presence known. Leaping down from the walkway the man in red had been perched on and where he'd been ambushed and killed, the Dark Warrior landed dramatically, at the same time sending out a powerful wave of telekinetic energy that knocked Rey off her feet and sent her tumbling. Advancing menacingly, the Dark Warrior outstretched a clawed hand, and the sarcophagus Rey had failed to open gave no resistance. It's top popped open, and Rey could see that inside were two lightsabers; one that had been a spare copy of Darth Vader's lightsaber in the event of the original's destruction, and the other was the lightsaber of a certain Jedi who had died by Vader's blade, and who's lightsaber had been a favorite trophy of his former apprentice turned killer's ever after.

The two lightsabers flew out of the chest and into the clawed hands of the Dark Warrior, who then added them to the other lightsabers worn on the figure's belt. Taking in the Dark Warrior's appearance, Rey realized immediately that it was the same one from her failed Trial of the Spirit at Coruscant.

"No...no, it can't be! It can't be you! You weren't real! You...you were a test!"

Turning to face Rey without a word, the Dark Warrior drew the same, spiky, rag-covered lightsaber the Dark Warrior in her vision had drawn. As before, a bloodshine, crimson blade shot out, and Rey was finally forced to acknowledge the terrifying reality in front of her: that the Dark Warrior, that terrifying, nightmarish figure from her failed Trial of the Spirit...was real. Real, and alive, and hunting her and her master.

And then the Dark Warrior ran at her.

 **Author's Notes: Bonus points to anyone who gets the little reference to a favorite movie of mine that I snuck in here, as well as the SW: Rebels and Middle-Earth: Shadow of War references. And now, Trivia!**

 **1\. The Death Watch are of course the notorious Mandalorian splinter-group from Jango** **Fett: Open Seasons and the second Clone Wars cartoon, being depicted in both as hypocritical and sadistic thugs who wouldn't know true honor if it bit them in the rear. But then, as is noted in this story, the earlier Neo-Crusaders and Crusaders under (respectively), Mandalore the Ultimate and Mandalore the Indomitable were little better, considering each of them waged brutal, merciless, take-no-prisoners war against the Republic (though in fairness to both, one was being manipulated from afar by Vitiate, and the other was coerced into service after losing to Sith Apprentice Ulic Qel-Droma in a duel).**

 **2\. Owen Skywalker is indeed this canon's equivalent to Ben Skywalker, Luke's son from Legends. Obviously, Kylo Ren's real name precluded the possibility of using the name "Ben", so I figured it might make more sense for Luke to name his son after the man who had raised him. But for all intents and purposes, he's Ben Skywalker with a different first name, right down to being close with his mother Mara.**

 **Gotta give him credit, he did much better against a Riot Control Stormtrooper than Finn did. XD**

 **3\. Mara Jade is of course very famously Luke's spunky, redheaded wife and former Emperor's Hand from the original Star Wars continuity, and one of the most enduringly popular and loved of all Legends-exclusive characters. How I hope that she one day gets transferred over to Disney's canon for real, not just in my story here.**

 **4\. Luke's comment that Obi-Wan and Yoda's skills deteriorated a bit during their periods of self-imposed exile is correct, at least in Legends anyway. But presumably in Disney's canon as well.**

 **5\. The First Order's successor to the AT-ST that I came up with here is officially called the AT-ADS, or "All-Terrain, Armored Droid Scout".**

 **6\. Despite the name, Sabe is not in any way related to Padme Amidala's decoy from _The Phantom Menace,_ who had the same name. I just chose that name because I needed a female Star Wars name, and the in-universe explanation is that she's from Naboo, and so has a Naboo name. **

**7\. The men in blue and red are New Reborn, who I shall elaborate more on in the next chapter. Their backstories will be near-identical to their Legends counterparts.**

 **8\. In Legends, Darth Vader did indeed put Obi-Wan's lightsaber in his castle on Vjun after killing him. I don't remember what ultimately became of it.**

 **All of the trivia out of the way, I now have to be blunt: I have started a new round of College classes, and am in fact living on-campus these days. I expect a more grueling work-load than what I got at my last College, and even if not, College work still takes priority. In other words, this is liable to be my last chapter for a good long while. Sorry to break it to whoever is enjoying this story, but again, College work MUST come first, especially when I'm still trying to navigate the place and figure out where everything is. I hope I can do more for this story, but I can't promise anything.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Dark Forces Rising

 _Geonosis, Weeks Ago_

After the downfall of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order, those of his Padawans, Knights, and Masters who had survived were scattered to the four corners of the Galaxy. As had happened with the fall of the Jedi after Order 66, the survivors tried to hide out anywhere and everywhere they could, ever-desperate to avoid detection and elimination. That history was repeating itself in the worst way did not go unnoticed to the Jedi, many of whom lamented it mightily.

One such planet a group of Jedi had fled to, was Geonosis. Ironic in itself, considering how so many Jedi had once died fighting there. Fighting a battle that would begin the very war that would end with their _last_ near-total annihilation.

But, one of Luke's new Jedi was a Geonosian, a hitherto-unseen case of the Force manifesting strongly in a member of that species. Even though said species had enjoyed a resurgence in the years after Palpatine's attempt to annihilate them, their numbers were still not what they had been before the Clone Wars, and Geonosis was still on the whole uninhabited and desolate, not to mention remote. In short, the perfect place for the Jedi group to hide.

Or so they had thought.

"What happened to Bargost?" Asked Arwen Ulyette, an attractive Mirialan female garbed in robes and leather gloves and boots that were almost all white with some green.

"Dead." Was the blunt response of her mate and fellow Jedi Knight, Elen Starks, a fairly young and handsome human male with brown hair and blue Jedi robes with bits of armor. "Whatever's hunting us got him. Saw it with my own eyes."

"I can't believe it." Another human Jedi, Waymar Seri, said bitterly. "We run so long from the Knights of Ren, go so far, and hide out here in this wasteland, and _still_ something manages to find us! _And_ kill us!" He shook his head. "It's hopeless. The Galaxy has it out for the Jedi. It always has."

"Don't despair, Seri." Said Kirana Ti, a Dathomiran who had embraced Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order after rejecting the ways of the Nightsisters. "Yes, our predicament is dire, but if we give into those emotions you're feeding, then we've truly lost."

"What if we die anyway?" Asked Elen.

"Then we do it on our feet and with dignity. Not curled up in a ball whimpering and despairing." The other Jedi nodded in agreement. Not a Nightsister she might be, but Kirana Ti still had a warrior's bluntness, not to mention preference for assertiveness and perseverance, not blanching in the face of...well, hardly anything. It was why she was the unofficial leader of the pack at this point.

The Geonosian Jedi, Ikvizar Fac, said in his native dialect (which the others understood through both education and the Force): "Master Ti is quite correct. We were seven when we started, and now we are six. To _not_ stand united would invite swifter death."

That was the thing about Ikvizar Fac; he was still a Geonosian, even without the usual bad qualities that entailed. And so he thought as many Geonosians did, namely in terms of a collective. To him, numbers and unity were always better than going at it alone. In that sense, he was perfect for the life of a Jedi. He already thought so little of his own individual importance and so much about the concept of group benefits, that the relentless altruism that the life of a Jedi demands came easily to him.

There was a pause. Elen was the first to sense it in the Force, and then his beloved Arwen, who took his hand in her own and squeezed it. "I sense him too." She whispered. "He's out there. And he's coming...to us."

 _Vjun, Now_

The Dark Warrior wasted no time in getting right to it where dueling Rey was concerned; she scarcely had time to react to the opening flurry of slashes from the crimson blade, and soon most of her vision was red light as the Dark Warrior continued throwing around relentless strokes. As Rey did what she could to muster a respectable defense, the Dark Warrior advanced purposefully, continuing to throw the strokes around but being in no way sloppy; there was clear purpose behind every arcing slash, every wide swing, every brutal cleave and hack. Then it dawned on Rey that she recognized what she was being shown, and when she did, her gut dropped like a stone.

The Dark Warrior was using Juyo.

Juyo, the Seventh form of Lightsaber Combat, was one that Rey knew only by reputation; Luke and the holocron of Cin Drallig had both given her some basic knowledge of it; in essence, Juyo was a wild and erratic form, even more than Ataru, and a very aggressive form, even more than Djem So. It required proficiency in all of the other lightsaber forms to be able to use, and involved the very kinds of relentless strokes Rey was under attack from now. So dangerous a fighting style was it, that Jedi had long debated whether or not it was a safe style to learn or teach.

But of course, those aligned with the Dark Side, such as the Sith and this warrior, had no such concerns.

Next thing Rey knew, her double saber had been swatted out of her small hands. She tried blasting back the Dark Warrior with a two-handed Force push, but the Dark Warrior was having none of it, kicking Rey harshly in the face and leaving the whole side swollen and bruised from where the clawed, metal foot had connected with her cheek. The blow was also such that it sent Rey flying through the air and slamming into the statue of Vader. She gasped in pain as she felt as though an angry Wookie had punched her right in the spine. She tasted blood in her mouth and the wind felt knocked out of her. Looking up, she could see the Dark Warrior twirl the red lightsaber about for a few moments before advancing slowly towards her...

 _Geonosis, Weeks Ago_

"He's coming here." Arwen repeated. "We need to move again."

"I say we stand and fight." Kirana Ti said. "We can't keep running forever."

"We can't face that thing!" Protested the sixth of the Jedi, a Klatooinian Padawan named Uroc Gon.

"We must try." Kirana retorted firmly. "I told you; we can't run forever."

"I can try to scout ahead and find us a higher, more easily defensible position." Ikvizar suggested.

"Might as well." Kirana Ti agreed with a nod.

Keeping his lightsaber pike close, Ikvizar took off on his insectoid wings, flying out of the cave and up towards some of the nearby mountains. Those were so abundant on Geonosis that the Jedi could hardly have any difficulty in finding an effective place to prepare for an attack.

But, out of nowhere it seemed, a spinning streak of crimson fire cut through the air, and though Ikvizar tried to react to it in time, the lightsaber still slashed him and he fell out of the sky like a shot bird.

"Ikvizar!"

Elen ignited his crossguard lightsaber, forest green blades bursting forth. His lover followed suit with her own traditional green lightsaber, while Waymar and Uroc ignited their blue ones, and Kirana Ti drew both her orange-yellow lightsaber and her battle-staff. The five Jedi huddled together and they all looked out for any sign of the assassin. They could all sense their foe through the Force, but none of them could get an exact "fix" on their foe's location, like scanners on a ship that could tell a spacer only that there was an enemy fighter nearby, but not the direction in which it was coming from.

Up in the shadows of the mountainous cave the Jedi had taken shelter in, the Dark Warrior drew two lightsabers from the belt that, at present, had _four_ hilts on it. The characteristic "snap-hiss" of lightsaber blades springing to life alerted the five Jedi to the Dark Warrior's presence, and they moved out of the way just as the assassin came down with two red lightsabers in hand...

 _Vjun, Now_

Rey weakly reached out with her hand, calling her double-bladed lightsaber back to her. She activated one of the blades just in time to block the smashing strike from the Dark Warrior. Rey felt her arms strain trying to keep back the sheer power of the attack. She tried to muster a counter-attack, but the Dark Warrior casually deflected the few weak attacks before contemptuously swatting Rey's lightsaber out of her hands again. With the clawed hand not grasping the lightsaber, the Dark Warrior grabbed Rey by the throat and lifted her up. Rey chocked and gasped as she felt oxygen being squeezed out of her lungs at an alarming rate. Her hands reached weakly for the her throat but she had no hope of prying those clawed, metal fingers away. She could feel blood on her neck from the cuts being left as the claws dug into her flesh.

Air returned to her lungs abruptly as the Dark Warrior released her and she fell to the floor. Looking out, Rey could see that the Dark Warrior was being pulled telekinetically towards Luke. With a mechanically modified roar, the Dark Warrior created a wave of telekinetic energy so powerful, Luke was briefly staggered and had to release his quarry. Whipping around, the Dark Warrior stared Luke down, red lightsaber held at the ready in a reverse grip.

"Halt, assassin. Who are you? What are you? Knight of Ren or something else?"

"I do not serve the Knights of Ren." The Dark Warrior hissed, voice completely distorted by the vocabulator in the all-face concealing helmet. "And my name is not important to you."

"Step away from my Padawan."

Without a word, the Dark Warrior put away the lightsaber and raised both arms. Luke could sense a Force Storm building up inside his foe, and moved in to intercept. In an instant, the Dark Warrior's red lightsaber came back into a clawed hand and met Luke's green blade head-on, the nascent storm dying away as the Dark Warrior focused on defending with a lightsaber. The lightsaber of Obi-Wan Kenobi flew into the second hand, catching Luke's attention. As the Dark Warrior ducked under Luke's next swing and leaped backwards to avoid his follow-up, Luke said: "I recognize that lightsaber. It belonged to a great Jedi once."

The Dark Warrior's wordless nod confirmed that Luke's foe understood this. And the lowering of that blue blade at Luke's face confirmed that the Dark Warrior didn't care that they were now using a Jedi lightsaber to try and kill a Jedi. Correctly reasoning that the Dark Warrior must have found it within Vader's castle, Luke readied his green lightsaber, and prepared himself to engage his foe.

 _Geonosis, Weeks Ago_

No sooner had the Dark Warrior landed, did exchanging of lightsaber blows commence with all speed. The Dark Warrior blocked the strikes from all five of the Jedi admirably, spinning and twirling the red lightsabers as needed to force back some of the Jedi whilst focusing attention on the others. Taken aback somewhat by how their enemy could hold their own against all five of them at once, the Jedi's assault briefly weakened, allowing the Dark Warrior to unleash a Force Wave that blasted all but Kirana Ti and Elen Starks to the ground. The former simply moved out of the way in time, the latter did the same and fired out a Force Blast. The Dark Warrior sped out of the way before the attack could connect, then leaping up to a wall before kicking off of it and shooting towards the ground, all the while spinning with the two red lightsabers to create an image that vaguely resembled an out-of-control propeller.

The Dark Warrior's landing unleashed a Force Wave that kept the Jedi down and grounded, save for Uroc Gon, who leaped out of the way just in time (having been the first to get back to his feet earlier). The Klatooinian met the Dark Warrior's lightsabers head on, but the exchange of blows was pitifully short; the Dark Warrior needed to block only four strikes from Uroc before slashing off one of the Klatooinian's forearms. As Uroc fell to his knees, the Dark Warrior cleaved down on his neck.

Arwen gasped in shock and horror as Uroc Gon's headless body fell to the floor. She fired out a Force Blast at the Dark Warrior, but the attack was shrugged off. Arwen next tried hurling several stones at the Warrior with telekinesis, but these were destroyed with fans of crimson as they came. Waymar came running in along with Kirana Ti. Outstretching a clawed hand, the Dark Warrior telekinetically lifted Waymar off the ground, and with a sickening crunching sound crushed his internal organs, before slamming him hard into the ground. Kirana Ti was disposed of with a two-handed Force Push that sent her flying up into the air and smashing into the stone ceiling as though she'd been shot out of a cannon.

Now only the lovers Elen and Arwen remained. They each attacked the Dark Warrior from a different side, but with _two_ lightsabers, the Dark Warrior could meet each of their green blades as needed, blocking strikes casually and keeping both Jedi at bay before a flick of a wrist blasted Elen backwards dozens of feet and smashing into a stone outcropping. Once that was done, the Dark Warrior turned to Arwen, slamming both red blades into her green one again and again and driving her back steadily, as Arwen did everything she could to hold out.

"Elen! Help me!" Arwen cried out over the clashing lightsabers. But alas, by the time Elen recovered and sped towards her and the Dark Warrior, the latter had already disarmed Arwen with an expertly delivered slash, and blasted her through with a Force Push that sent her flying through the air and going through a large outcropping of rock so hard said rock was smashed to pebbles. There was a cracking sound too, and as Arwen's bloody and battered body hit the dusty ground and tumbled along, Elen's heart caught in his throat.

"No! Arwen!"

The Dark Warrior turned to face Elen as he cried this out. Elen did not sense Arwen pass into the Force, but he _could_ sense how desperately she clung to life as her body lay broken.

Reaching out to reclaim the lightsaber he'd dropped when the Dark Warrior had blasted him backwards, Elen was left horrified when another crimson slash left said lightsaber in two useless halves.

"I think not." The Dark Warrior said simply, the first and only thing the assassin said during the entire fight. Frowning in the face of this, Elen noticed the two lightsabers on the ground; the discarded weapons of Uroc and Waymar. Knowing what he had to do, Elen fired a Force Push at the Dark Warrior. The Warrior sped out of the way of the attack, but Elen had been counting on this; while the Dark Warrior was moving, Elen summoned the two lightsabers safely to him and re-ignited their blue blades.

The two Force users stared each-other down for only a moment. Then, the Dark Warrior leaped into the air with red lightsabers raised overhead...

 _Vjun, Now_

Luke Skywalker had to admit, that his age was finally getting to him.

Even granting that he'd been fighting through the greater part of the First Order's forces on Vjun before finally reaching the Dark Warrior, Luke still felt more tired than he ought to. And he knew he didn't used to get this tired. Not when he was still young, or even middle-aged. But now, even with his skills not diminished, his stamina was. He was getting slower, and in the face of his younger, more relentless and vicious opponent, Luke took notice of that too.

He inwardly sighed. _That will make this more difficult._

Just as Rey had discovered quickly, Luke didn't need long to realize that his opponent used Juyo, and used it well. A common misconception held, that knowing Juyo automatically made one nigh-unassailable as a lightsaber duelist, but that was not true (as Meetra Surik's sound thrashing of Atris demonstrated). Like all other lightsaber forms, not every user of Juyo was equal. Having said that, the Dark Warrior clearly knew what they were doing. The use of two lightsabers, far from a mere gimmick, made the assault of Luke's enigmatic foe all the more erratic, vicious, and hard to keep up with, no mean feat in itself given that this was far from the first time Luke had had to fight a dual wielder.

 _He's been trained well._ Luke admitted to himself as he struggled to block another dual-strike from the Dark Warrior before replying in kind with measured and controlled swings and thrusts. Their lightsabers lanced back and forth, flashes of green and red and blue filling the vision of both combatants. Watching the sight, Rey found it increasingly difficult to keep track of the two and their movements. They were becoming blurry to her, and Rey was sure that it wasn't just because she was struggling to stay conscious.

 _So **this** is what Master Skywalker looks like in a duel when he's not holding back. _Rey thought as the intense duel continued. The white hot flashes of lightsabers clashing continued. The two combatants began moving around the area, which was wide open enough to allow for ease of movement and ensured that neither combatant was wanting for room to move around. But as the duel continued, it occurred to Rey as she did what she could to reach through the Force, that the Dark Warrior was _not_ losing. The revelation was more shocking to Rey than perhaps it should have been. She was so used to her master being the best lightsaber duelist in the room by a lightyear that the notion that this nameless, faceless, terrifying hunter could ever possibly win against him was all but incomprehensible to Rey. Sure, he was tired, she could sense that, and sure, the Dark Warrior would be as augmented by the darkness of Vader's castle as any of the others, but even _with_ those two things, Rey couldn't believe that her master would lose. _Wouldn't_ believe it.

 _Please, Master..._ Rey thought silently, even though she knew Luke could probably read her thoughts, even in the midst of battle (though she hoped he couldn't). _Please, Master Skywalker...you **have** to beat him._

The lightsaber duel continued relentlessly, the two combatants now regularly inserting Force Pushes and Blasts into their fight, but each one dodged the other's attack. The Dark Warrior also tried to use Force Lightning, but Luke caught the bolts on his green blade. For his part, Luke tried a cousin power to Force Lightning called "Kinetite", launching a compressed ball of electricity that the Dark Warrior narrowly ducked to avoid.

Luke sighed and fought hard to keep the frustration at bay, as such an emotion did no Jedi any favors. But he couldn't help it; the Dark Warrior was too good. If he weren't so damn tired from both age and all the fighting he'd done up to that point, Luke was confident he would have won by now. But as it was, the decisive blow, the expert disarming, something, _anything_ he could do to end the fight, seemed to elude him.

That said, Luke _did_ finally disarm the Dark Warrior of Ben Kenobi's lightsaber, the hilt clattering to the floor as the blue flame of it's blade winked out. Luke called the lightsaber to him and hastily clipped it to his belt. The Dark Warrior snarled angrily in the face of losing a new trophy, and surged towards Luke with renewed fury. Satisfied that he'd made _some_ progress, Luke renewed his own assault. He ducked under an overhead slash, thrusted with purpose, and was satisfied that the stab grazed against the armor of the Dark Warrior. The Dark Warrior reeled back from the blow, and Luke seized his chance, knowing full well that he probably wouldn't get another.

With a cleaving slash that came like a flare of green-white flame, Luke struck at the Dark Warrior's helmet, slicing it cleanly in two. When the pieces clattered to the floor, both Luke and Rey gasped in shock at what they saw.

 _Geonosis, Weeks Ago_

Elen collapsed to his knees defeated, each of the blue lightsaber hilts that weren't his own rolling out of a gloved hand. The tip of a red lightsaber blade was right at Elen's face and throat.

"Go on then." Elen said. "I'm a Jedi. I don't fear death, and I won't beg."

The Dark Warrior nodded understanding wordlessly, and prepared to deliver a final thrust. It never came.

A Force Push hit the Dark Warrior in the back and sent the assassin hurtling forwards and through the air. The source was none other than Ikvizar Fac, who stood there with his thin, bony arms outstretched and wrists flicked.

"Impossible..."

Lifting up his hands, the Geonosian Jedi telekinetically lifted the Dark Warrior, who was still reeling from the surprise attack, and tossed the assassin to one side, the Dark Warrior hitting the side of the cavern hard enough to dislodge some stones.

With the Dark Warrior temporarily stunned, Elen zipped towards Arwen and his heart ached as though he had taken that stab from the Dark Warrior when he saw her; she was a crumpled heap, her white and green robes stained with blood and her beautiful face bearing hideous bruises. Blood trailed down out of one of her nostrils, one of her ears was broken, and both of her eyes were blacked out.

Wasting no time, Elen took Arwen in his arms, cradling her in a bridal carry as Ikvizar Fac provided covering fire with more Force Pushes and Force Blasts. By now, the Dark Warrior had recovered from not just the stun but the surprise attack, and dodged each telekinetic attack as needed, though they were at least enough to keep the Dark Warrior at bay.

"I won't be able to keep him back much longer..." Ikvizar Fac admitted. Indeed, the Dark Warrior began to get closer. Seeing this, the Geonosian used the Force to lift Kirana Ti's own broken body, and telekinetically carry her out as he retreated along with Elen. The latter sped out as fast as he could, holding Arwen in his arms the whole way. Ikvizar for his part flew on his wings, which had somehow managed to stay intact and usable even after his bad fall. All the while, he telekinetically dragged Kirana Ti along with him. Knowing that the Dark Warrior would pursue regardless, Ikvizar and Elen called on the Force as best they could to start collapsing parts of the cavern to block the Dark Warrior's path. While they did not have even together the power needed to collapse a place that was larger than some buildings, they _could_ with enough of a strain bring down enough large stones that it slowed the Dark Warrior down considerably, as their pursuer evaded each one without getting crushed. Finally, the two Jedi managed to make it out with their unconscious and injured fellows in tow, and promptly collapsed the cave entrance with their conjoined power before speeding away again. They ran for miles before finally, having spent most of what reserves of Force power they had, they collapsed.

"That won't hold that animal for long." Elen noted grimly as he continued to hold Arwen in his arms, despite now being on his knees and feeling as though he needed to be carried himself.

"I know." Ikvizar said. "Which is why we must contact help."

"We can't. The First Order could pick up the signal."

"That is a risk we shall have to take." Ikvizar said. "Against that assassin is certain death. If we make our presence here known, there is only the chance of it. Which would you prefer?"

"Fair enough." Elen said. "But we _must_ hurry. Arwen and Kirana need medical attention."

"Can you use Force Heal on them?"

"I can try, but after that I'll have nothing left for at least a good day or two, maybe longer. Causing all those stones to fall plus collapsing the cave and then running for so long took a lot out of me."

"Me as well." Ikvizar noted. "But we must try. Our friends here will not last long enough to get proper medical attention otherwise."

Elen nodded. As he used Force Heal to do what he could for Arwen, all the while hating seeing her so injured, he asked: "How did you survive? We saw that lightsaber strike you..."

"Tutaminis." Ikvizar explained. "I absorbed most of the energy of the lightsaber strike. I regret to say that my Lightsaber Pike was not so fortunate; cleaved in two. I think the top half is still usable as a regular lightsaber, but I left it behind."

"Well, you still have the Force." Elen said.

"Yes, and I hope it's enough..."

Meanwhile, back in the area near the cavern, the Dark Warrior at last pushed away the last of the rubble in the way, and picked up the broken top half of Ikvizar's lightsaber pike. Sure enough, it was indeed still functional as a regular lightsaber. Satisfied, the Dark Warrior shrank the blue blade away and put the lightsaber pike half on the belt that already included several other lightsaber hilts. Arwen's discarded lightsaber also joined it, and so did the blue lightsabers of Waymar and Uroc. Four new trophies to mark the Dark Warrior's victory over four defeated Jedi. It also meant that the Dark Warrior's lightsaber "collection" had effectively doubled.

But it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough not in terms of how many lightsabers the Dark Warrior got. _That_ was fine enough at eight and soon to be more. No, it wasn't enough because, the _true_ target of the Dark Warrior, had not been among that group of Jedi. The Dark Warrior had known this going in, but had attacked the Jedi anyway because the Jedi were a fading, misguided light that needed to be snuffed out with all speed. No Jedi had been around to uplift and save the Dark Warrior's family when they needed it, and no Jedi could understand that it was through power that victory was acquired, and that through victory, one's chains would be broken; the Force would free them. The Dark Warrior knew this truth; only by embracing passion and rage and hatred had the Dark Warrior endured. It was just as the Dark Warrior's great grandfather and grandfather had wisely taught; the power of the Dark Side is superior, and the weak and delusional Jedi know not what is best for the Galaxy.

But again, the Jedi were not, strictly speaking, the Dark Warrior's _true_ target. That, was a more personal one. One the Dark Warrior had been searching for for years, and had finally sensed through the Force, now that she'd finally "awoken". Awoke to her connection to the Force and began to embrace it, to nurture it, to _use_ it. But as she grew more powerful, so too did she become more aware to the Dark Warrior.

And as she became more aware, so too did she become easier to track.

 _Soon..._ The Dark Warrior thought. _...soon I will get my revenge on you. You will **pay** for betraying me. For betraying **our** family... **my** vengeance will not be denied. And the glory of the Sith will return under **my** leadership. **My** birthright. No one will take it from me. **No one.**_ "

 _Vjun, Now_

Rey was looking into a mirror.

Not in the literal sense; there was no polished glass in front of her, no frame to house it, no product of rays of light hitting a surface, bouncing, and leaving an angle of incidence to create a copy of whatever was beholding it. Rather, she was staring at a woman who, with her helmet gone, had Rey's face as her own.

Of course, there w _ere_ differences too; her skin was paler than Rey's, looking diseased and sick and an almost deathly pallor. As if it were a Rey who hadn't known the beauty of a good sleep or sunlight in days or possibly even weeks. Her hair was the same color as Rey's, the same shade, but the style was different, being somewhat messier and with a braid that had spilled out from behind the now-destroyed helmet and always been visible. Perhaps Rey should have taken that as her first clue that her stalker and nemesis was a woman and not a man, but it had never even crossed her mind.

But the biggest difference, were the eyes:

It is often said that one can learn some things about a person by seeing the look in their eyes; their personality, their thoughts, their motives, their feelings, and so on. Rey had been on the receiving end of this but also the one making the judgments; she had looked into many pairs of eyes over the years, and generally, her intuitions about them didn't let her down. Similarly, most who looked into Rey's brown eyes would correctly guess her to be kind, good-hearted, compassionate, and something other than gentle only when she had to be and not before. They contained warmth, a human warmth that Rey had also seen in the eyes of the woman from her visions who she knew to be her mother.

But _these_ eyes...the eyes of the woman in front of her who bore her face...those eyes were _not_ warm. They were not good-hearted, or gentle, or containing any of the kindness or compassion that were such a part of who Rey was. Instead, in those yellow orbs ringed with a scarlet border that looked like terrible bloodshot, Rey saw hatred and rage. Raw, condensed, unrelenting hatred and rage. In those eyes spoke of someone who had surrendered herself to whatever poison had been in her heart and now shined through in those hideous yellow eyes as well. Yellow. Yellow like a festering, bubbling venom from some wretched toxic predator that had fallen to the ground. Yellow like the mark of a horrid pestilence. Yellow...like the Sith. The eyes of the Sith were _her_ eyes. This woman with whom Rey's face had so much in common and yet, she realized, so little.

So yes, Rey w _as_ looking into a mirror...a very unflattering and terrifying one.

"Who...who are you?" Rey asked.

The unmasked Dark Warrior turned to face Rey and glowered hatefully at her. Pointing her red lightsaber at her, she hissed: "You _know_ who I am, sister. You _betrayed_ me. Betrayed our family! And for those crimes, you _die_!"

"No, please, I don't know what you're talking about..." Rey said weakly, her mind reeling from the confirmation that she had a sister, and a twin sister from the looks of it. One who evidently wished to bring down fatal punishment for crimes Rey had no knowledge or memory of ever committing.

In any case, the Dark Warrior's charge was promptly cut off by Luke, who was finally able to conclude the pair's lightsaber duel by expertly taking the rag-covered hilt out of the Dark Warrior's clawed hand. A flick of his wrist sent her flying backwards and away from him and Rey.

" _Yield_." Luke said firmly.

"I can just draw another one!" The Dark Warrior shouted defiantly, and to prove her point, drew Darth Vader's lightsaber from her belt and activated it's crimson blade with all speed.

"We both know what will happen if you attack me again." Luke said grimly. "You gave a good fight, but it's over now. Stand down."

The Dark Warrior looked at Luke, and then looked at Rey. As Rey locked eyes with her sister again, she was suddenly hit with a flash of a vision, as she saw again the face of the woman she knew was her mother.

 _"Find me, Rey. **Please,** find me..."_

"This is **_not_** over, sister!" The Dark Warrior hissed, which ended Rey's brief vision and returned her to the present. "I swear, I _will_ kill you one day! I will _break_ you! I will kill you and then your master and _all_ the Jedi there are left!"

Luke advanced towards her, but the Dark Warrior sped off towards the window. She expertly cut a hole in it with Vader's lightsaber whilst calling the one she'd been disarmed of back to her. She spun as she dove down, before landing on the rocky ground without so much as a sprained ankle despite it having been a several story drop. Then she took off into the wilderness of Vjun in a burst of speed.

Luke shook his head as he watched her go. Then he walked over to Rey and began using Force Heal to tend to her back and face.

"Thank you." Rey breathed. "She'd have killed me if you hadn't come..."

"I know." Luke said grimly. "She was well trained. _Very_ well-trained. Best lightsaber duelist I've ever seen aligned with the Dark Side since my father and Palpatine." He grimaced. "And I fought _plenty_ before even the Knights of Ren showed up."

"Who do you think taught her to fight like that?"

"I don't know." Luke admitted. "But that was no mere adept. I could sense a lifetime of bitterness and hatred in that woman. I suspect she's been taught the ways of the Dark Side all her life."

"I...I feel sorry for her." Rey said, and all at once she couldn't understand _why_ she had said that. But then she realized; it's because all that anger and hate had to come from somewhere... _something_. Whatever she held Rey responsible for. _Something_ had happened to this woman who shared Rey's face, and for her own part, Rey realized it must have been something truly awful.

"She's my sister..." Rey muttered, still not wanting to believe it even though the evidence was irrefutable. She looked at her master hard. "Did you know?"

He shook his head and answered honestly. "No. She conceals her presence and nature well. The hatred is so intense it can't be hidden, but the rest..." He sighed. "She's as much a mystery to me as she is to you."

"She says I betrayed her...betrayed our family...but I don't know what she's talking about!"

"I think it may be something she _blames_ you for, not something that's really your fault."

"But _what?"_ Rey wondered. "I don't even _remember_ her! I didn't know I _had_ a sister! What happened that she holds me responsible for?"

"The answers may lie in your early childhood." Luke suggested. "That part of the past you recall the least."

Rey sighed. "I don't remember _anything_ about my early childhood, Master Skywalker. My oldest memory is being left behind and missing my family. But that's it." She shook her head. "I don't know a thing before that."

"Do you think your visions of your mother pay provide a clue?"

"She keeps telling me to 'find her', but I don't know _where_ she is. I don't even know if she's still alive."

"But if she is, she may be able to answer the question of why your sister hates you and seeks your death."

"Maybe. But I still don't know where she is."

"Yes, well, we shall have to focus on that later. At present, we still have a job to do."

"Please tell me it's almost over." Rey said. "I feel better now that you've healed me, but...I'm getting tired."

"I know. Knights of Ren and Reborn are everywhere here."

"Reborn?"

"Those men in red and blue you've been fighting throughout the castle. They were a group of Dark Siders founded and led by a former student of mine named Desann. One of my best swordsmen, Kyle Katarn, killed him and most of the Reborn. But some of them slipped through the cracks. It would seem that they've since fallen in with the First Order."

"Not surprised." Rey said bitterly.

"The two of us together should be able to handle anything that comes our way, provided we don't allow ourselves to get swarmed. Come on. We still need to go to my father's throne room. Once we search that place, we should be ready to go."

 _Geonosis, Weeks Ago_

Using what communication devices they had between them, Ikvizar Fac and Elen Starks finally managed to get a signal out. They waited for some time, as they did resting and allowing their Force power to return to them whilst Elen periodically healed Arwen and Kirana's injuries a bit at a time as his own strength came and went. Finally, the Jedi were able to hail a ship successfully, a cargo freighter that had been making a fuel run that had taken them near Geonosis. When the ramp lowered and the Twi'leks on board saw who it was, their mouths dropped.

"Who in the name of...?"

"Please help us." Elen said, scooping Arwen up into a bridal carry again. "Our friends here are stabilized but they need more medical attention. We need to get off this planet."

"Well, we _were_ heading to Tatooine to drop off some fuel..."

"That's fine by us. We just need to get off Geonosis and get our friends help."

"Who are you, anyway?"

"In trouble, hurt, desperate, on the run, and dead if you don't help us. That good enough?"

The male sighed and said: "Oh, alright, come on, come on..."

Elen and Ikvizar both gave their thanks before getting on board, as always taking Arwen and Kirana with them. The former was actually coming to and mumbled: "Ugh...what...? Where...?"

"Hey, hey take it easy..." Elen said. "You were really badly hurt. You're lucky to be alive."

She smiled weakly at him. " _You_ look like you did okay for yourself..."

"I'd be dead were it not for Ikvizar." Elen said bluntly, to which Arwen turned to look at him. "I...I thought you were..."

"Yes, I would be were it not for my knowing Tutaminis." He said.

"I see Kirana there..."

"She's badly hurt, even worse than you were, but she might just make it. We've gotten on a ship and we're headed to Tatooine now."

"Tatooine?" Arwen sighed. "And they always say nothing ever happens on Tatooine."

Elen chuckled. "Well, I think we all know that's a lie..."

Once the ship landed on Tatooine, Ikvizar and Elen got Arwen and Kirana Ti to a medical station, and as they stayed at their side, they discussed their next move:

"We can't stay here." Ikvizar said bluntly. "Tatooine is close enough that the Dark Warrior will almost certainly think to look for us here. And in any event, I believe we have made a mistake distancing ourselves from both other Jedi and those who would fight the First Order. We _must_ ally ourselves with the Resistance."

"Yes, I think you're right." Elen said with a nod. "We were fools to run and hide for so long. As we've gotten weaker, the First Order and the Knights of Ren have only gotten stronger. The Dark Side itself has gotten stronger. This dark assassin who's been hunting us proves that. Yes, we need to start fighting back. But first thing's first; Arwen and Kirana need to heal. And _then_ we need to ask them what they want to do."

"Agreed." Ikvizar said. "Though I suspect they will agree with us."

"How do you think we should best meet up with the Resistance?" Elen asked.

"I think we may wish to go to a world contested between them and the First Order. Go there and help them. Show them that the Jedi haven't abandoned the Galaxy."

"Good idea." Elen agreed. "Better than searching around aimlessly for wherever they've hidden their base." He paused, then said: "I hope we can help."

"Indeed."

"We almost lost Arwen and Kirana. And we _did_ lose Waymar, Uroc, and Bargost. I'd rather they didn't die for nothing."

"I know, Elen." Ikvizar said. "But there is only so much even four Jedi can do. Especially four Jedi without lightsabers."

"I wish Master Skywalker was still with us."

"Master Skywalker made his choice to walk away from the Jedi Order." Ikvizar pointed out. "It will be his choice to return, if and when he does. Until then, we must not become attached to his absence. Jedi are not ones for clinging to the past."

"...I still wish Master Skywalker was with us."

 _Vjun, Now_

At long last, Luke and Rey came to Darth Vader's throne room.

It was a fairly spacious room; almost all dark gray, including the cool metal floor, but the steps leading up to the imposing black isolation chamber that was Vader "throne", were all adorned with eerie red lights. Red. Like the glow of Vader's lightsaber.

Rey felt her breath mist as well as saw it. She hadn't thought it possible, but the Dark Side was even stronger here than it had been inside the rest of the castle, and stronger than it was on the rest of the planet. All at once, without needing to think about it, Rey _knew_ the place was as evil as the man who had been inside it for years.

Seemingly not bothered at all by it, Luke Skywalker strode forwards with purpose and walked _past_ the isolation chamber. Rey was surprised by this, but quickly realized that she shouldn't be; why in the world would Darth Vader hide anything valuable inside his Isolation Chamber? Especially when the thing made for such an eye-catching distraction? No, Vader was too smart for that. Whatever was in there of value, would be elsewhere.

Walking up to the wall on the far back of the throne room, Luke ran his hand along it, reaching out with the Force to try and find some hidden "switch" or something to that effect. As he did, Rey instinctively turned around and saw another red Reborn. The feeling of the Dark Side was so oppressive and omnipresent in the throne room that it had effectively masked the man's presence entirely; where it not for survival instincts honed from a lifetime of scraping by on Jakku, Rey never would have realized he was there until it was probably too late.

There was only a brief staredown before the Reborn produced an elongated lightsaber hilt that was brown in color. Rey knew what it meant. Sure enough, a scarlet blade came out of both ends.

 _Just when I thought these 'Reborn' couldn't get any worse...now here's one with a double-saber._

However, whether or not Rey would have been able to take the Reborn was a question that would be left unanswered, as at that moment, a powerful telekinetic burst of energy sent the Reborn flying through the air and dropping his double-saber. Not wasting time, Rey called the weapon to her and destroyed it with her own lightsaber with all speed. Seeing this, the Reborn, clearly not fancying his odds without a lightsaber, ran for his life.

"He'll be back." Rey said. "And he'll probably bring friends."

"We'll be long gone by then." Luke said simply. Rey turned to see that he was walking forwards with a small, onyx pyramid with intricate silver patterns and border held in his mechanical hand.

"I found what we came for."

"A holocron?"

Luke nodded. "Yes. Probably the last one my father ever made. And given that he kept it hidden in a special compartment in his castle, I can only imagine what he put into it. Possibly all of his knowledge, even what he put in his other holocrons."

"Then I guess it's a good thing it's ours now. We don't want Kylo Ren getting his hands on that."

"No, we don't." Luke agreed. "It's time for us to leave now."

Rey nodded her agreement. But as they were about to leave, several rows of First Order Stormtroopers and officers with red pauldrons ran forwards and aimed blaster rifles.

"Halt right there! We've got you blocked off!"

Rey and Luke turned to look at each-other and just smiled.

 _The Resistance Fleet, Now_

"You summoned us, General Organa?" Elen Starks asked as he, Arwen, Kirana Ti, and Ikvizar Fac all appeared before the leader of the Resistance. She nodded. "I did, yes. Now that Luke is back and helping us, I want to see if there are any other Jedi besides him and you four that can also help. We need _everyone_ we can find."

"We know of no other survivors who could help." Kirana Ti said. "I mean, I know Kyle Katarn, Streen, and a few others survived the loss of the temple, but we don't know what happened to them after."

Leia smiled. "Funny you should mention those two. I know _exactly_ where Kyle Katarn is, and my agents think they know where Streen is."

"Where?"

"We think Streen may have gone back to Bespin." Leia elaborated. Elen and Arwen for their parts were not surprised by it (the latter had been his apprentice after all).

"He _was_ once a Tibanna Gas Miner." Arwen said with a gentle smile. "I would like to go and try and find him, General Organa. He was my Jedi Master, and the closest thing I had to a father after my real one died. If anyone's going to find him and bring him back, it should be me."

"And _I_ go where my wife goes." Elen said quickly.

General Organa's smile widened. "Fair enough. I give you both permission to go to Bespin and find Streen. But be warned; we think the First Order may be sending a garrison there soon. And Knights of Ren will be with them."

"We understand." Arwen said. "We'll be in and out quick. If Streen's there, we'll find him and go. If he's not, we'll get out all the more quickly."

"And what of Kyle Katarn?" Kirana Ti asked.

"Right now, Onderon. He's trying to help manage the bad situation there. We were going to send our own people there to help with that and get Onderon on our side against the First Order. _And_ to help those people, who haven't known a good leader in decades."

"We understand." Ikvizar Fac said. "We recommend that we be allowed to accompany your men and help Master Katarn with his efforts."

"Permission granted." Leia said. "Three Jedi's better than one obviously. But be warned; when I say it's a bad situation, I mean it. Onderon has bounced back and forth between anarchy and tyranny as a new dictator rises up, gets assassinated, and then anarchy reigns again, before the whole process repeats itself."

"Definitely sounds like a place that could use three Jedi's help." Elen said with a nod of acknowledgement.

"Well then, good luck to all of you. And I don't think I need to say it, but I will; May the Force be with you."

 _Vjun_

Now that they'd gotten what they'd come for, Rey and Luke fairly flew through the hallways and passages of the castle. Luke ran "slowly" enough that Rey could keep up, but both were running fast enough that no Stormtrooper could ever hope to keep up even if he'd shed all his armor and took off in naught but his undergarments. Going back to the place where the statue of Darth Vader was, Luke leaped out the window, erecting a new Force Barrier as he exited. Landing gracefully and without injury as the Dark Warrior had, Luke used telekinesis to lift Rey up and pull her down to the ground gently so that she wouldn't have to make the same fall. He simultaneously made a second Force Barrier to protect her as she became exposed to the acid rain. Once Rey was safely on the ground, Luke turned to face the castle and grimaced.

"To think, this could have maybe been mine one day, if I'd taken father up on his offer on Bespin."

"You wouldn't have..."

"No, I wouldn't have." Luke confirmed. "And of course I _didn't_. I never could have. And with father gone, this castle's not much use to anyone else..."

Reaching out with both hands, Luke concentrated deeply and purposefully. Even though Vader's castle on Vjun was positively massive, a structure that must have been the width of a good-sized shipyard (maybe even two), and dozens of meters in height, incredibly, after several moments of Luke holding out his hands and straining himself, the structure began to shudder, and Rey could feel the rocky ground beneath her feet shaking violently. She couldn't believe it; she knew Luke had said he would destroy the castle once they were done, and Rey had said she'd be happy to see it, but even granting those things a part of her still couldn't believe it was actually happening. Her master was powerful, sure, but could he really do _this?_

And yet, it was happening. It was happening before Rey's eyes; the castle of Darth Vader continued to shudder violently and slowly but surely started to crumble. Bits and pieces and chunks of rubble broke off and fell away. It was as if the castle had been hit by an earthquake and was slowly being torn apart by it. But Luke was not effecting the ground beneath his feet, but rather what was in front of him.

All the while, Luke held his position, arms outstretched. Rey could perceive sweat trickling down his forehead, and her master appeared to be wincing as if in pain. As the act of bringing down Vader's castle continued, Luke's wincing seemed to increase even further. As his clear discomfort and strain increased, so too did Rey's anxiety; her studies under Luke had stressed that, even with the infinite power of the Force, individual Jedi had their limits and should not try to exceed them too mightily, lest they push themselves too hard. That lesson had entailed more than a few sample cases of Jedi who had reached too far or pushed too much. One particular one that stood out in Rey's memory was the female Zabrak Jedi Ilyi Duer, who had pushed her Force powers so much she'd suffered an aneurysm and fatal cerebral hemorrhaging to go along with it. _Not_ a pleasant sight.

But, Luke steeled his way past the increasing agitation, and continued his efforts. More and more of the castle started to break away, larger pieces falling off from the main structure. It seemed that, now that the initial period of "locking on" to the castle and directing the full might of his Force power on it was over, Luke was taking it apart steadily a large chunk at a time. Finally, after several more moments, the last of the castle finally fell away, sending up increasingly large clouds of dust that soon dissipated in the air along with the noise the whole process had made.

Rey's jaw was by now almost on the floor. He'd done it. Her master had actually done it. Brought down Darth Vader's entire castle. All of it. Now it was one big pile of rubble. That he'd done it whilst _still_ maintaining the Force Barriers that protected him and Rey from the omnipresent acid rain just made it all the more impressive a display in Rey's mind. Never in her wildest dreams about the Jedi or the Force had she imagined anything like that.

Luke sighed and hung his head low and dropped his arms as he finished. Rey could sense how much weaker he was now; without him having to say a word, she could sense how bringing down the castle had taken so much out of him. Incredibly, he wasn't _completely_ drained by the act, but Rey could tell he was still no longer anywhere close to top strength. He could keep up their Force Barriers and maybe let loose with a Force Push or two if necessary, but that would be about it. This was confirmed when he silently walked off slowly, rather than speeding away. Rey followed dutifully behind, still in silent awe at what she'd seen. Eventually though, she saw fit to break the silence by saying: "So...are we going to Onderon now?"

Luke nodded. "Yes. But before we do, I think we could both do for a rest."

Rey nodded her own agreement. "No argument there. I'm exhausted from all that fighting in the castle. Hope I _never_ see anymore of those 'Reborn' ever again."

"I wouldn't bet on it, Rey." Luke said sadly. "I wouldn't bet on it."

 **Author's Notes: Trivia!**

 **1\. Arwen is, believe it or not, an actual Mirialan character's name in Legends. Thought I'd use it here. Her beaux's name of "Elen" is a reference to "Elendil", who's descendant Aragorn of course marries Arwen Evenstar in Tolkein's legendarium (which I am _ALMOST_ as much a fan of as Star Wars).**

 **2\. Similarly the name of "Waymar" is a reference to Ser Waymar Royce from George RR Martin's Dark Fantasy world. The character has the dubious distinction of being the very first character to die in the story, so I figured it'd be a good name for the throwaway Jedi character here.**

 **3\. Kirana Ti is an actual Jedi from Luke's order in the Legends continuity, and she is indeed from Dathomir originally. Think of her as being almost an Asajj Ventress who never fell to the Dark Side.**

 **4\. The Force power that the Dark Warrior uses to break free of Luke's telekinetic hold is Force Scream. Force Scream is an actual DS power that factually exists in Legends and possibly in Disney's Canon. In the former, it's the specific power Vader uses to destroy the lab he's brought back in at the end of _Revenge of the Sith_. So if you wanted to know what happens to the droids and the room right before Vader does his infamous "NOOOOOOO!" there's your answer.**

 **5\. Likewise, Tutaminis is an actual Force Power. Comes in handy for blocking lightsaber blade strikes (as demonstrated by Satele Shan in the SWTOR "Hope" cinematic trailer).**

 **6\. The New Reborn were in _Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy_ and just as they are in this story, were the remnants of the Reborn from _Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast._ The Reborn were hitherto Non-Force sensitives who were endowed with Force power unnaturally via exposure to the Valley of the Jedi, which had been a sort of "pool" of Force energy for over a thousand years because of Darth Bane's killing so many Jedi and Sith at once there during the Battle of Russan. Desaan for his part was the Big Bad of _Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast_ , but again, like in my story, even after Kyle Katarn killed him, some of his Reborn remained, becoming baddies in _Jedi Academy_. Like in my story, they did indeed come in blue and red variants, with the latter being both more powerful and more common.**

 **7\. Streen was indeed a Tibanna gas miner in the original Star Wars continuity, which is why he has that background here.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Crisis on Onderon, Part I

 _Onderon_

Having gone ahead of _The Hand of Complicity,_ Kylo Ren now stood in the ruins of one of Onderon's many palaces to stand over the years. Specifically, the one that had once belonged to the Force-Sensitive despot known as Aleema Keto. Not a formal Sith Lord, but a woman who's commitment to the Dark Side was nevertheless absolute, and who's shocking capacity for cruelty and madness was such that it would terrify and blanch even many a Sith. Kylo Ren though rather admired the woman, respecting her power and refusal to let anyone shackle her or said power. Though she was many thousands of years dead, the ruins of her castle still stood.

And now, they belonged to Kylo Ren.

As was the case before, Kylo Ren had all of his Sith holocrons laid out in front of him as a circle, and began his Sith meditation. As he allowed his anger, spitefulness, and sadism to fester and rise inside him, one by one, the holocrons of the great Dark Lords of the past opened.

" _You've grown in power since we last saw one another."_ The holocron of Darth Sidious noted approvingly.

"Yes. My training under the Supreme Leader is now complete at long last. I am _twice_ what I was on Starkiller Base. And I'm happy to prove it to my old enemies once I face them again."

 _"Remember though..._ " The holographic apparition of Darth Tyranus warned. " _...if you are to succeed in combat against the **best** of the Jedi, you must have fear, surprise, and **intimidation** on your side. For if any **one** element is lacking, it would be best for you to **retreat**. You must **break** them, before you engage them. __Only then will you ensure victory."_

Kylo Ren scoffed. "Ridiculous. There are no 'best of the Jedi' left. Myself and the other Knights of Ren have seen to that. And now, the remnants of the Reborn obey me as well. The only Jedi of consequence that remains is my uncle, and even _he_ cannot overcome all of us by himself."

" _Are you so certain, that he is the last Jedi?"_ Asked the holocron of a Zabrak who fairly hissed the question. The image was ghostly blue, in contrast to the vivid red his skin had been in life. His horns were not visible, as the holocron's image had the hood pulled up, but Kylo Ren still knew it was a zabrak (the tattoos would have been dead giveaways even if he _didn't_ know this particular Sith by heart). _"My master too was confident he'd wiped out all the Jedi, and yet, the survivors **still** overthrew him."_

"Any Jedi who have survived up to this point will be hunted down and eliminated in earnest." Kylo Ren said, unfazed by the warning Darth Maul's holocron provided. He frowned though, as he realized he did indeed sense a small but potent light amid the darkness and despair of Onderon's people. "Wait...yes...yes, I _do_ sense a Jedi here. A fairly powerful one too." Kylo Ren shrugged. "So be it. He'll die, and then there will be nothing left to keep me from bringing Onderon's people into the First Order."

 _"The common rabble are **always** gullible and weak." _ The holocron of Darth Bane noted contemptuously. " _They will be easy to manipulate and win over."_

 _"Do as I did with the Clone Wars."_ Darth Sidious' holocron suggested. " _Promise them order, promise them peace. And ask only for their agreement in return. Make it seem like salvation to them, the gift of order, and they will happily surrender their freedom. You'll see."_

 _"Lord Sidious is quite correct."_ Concurred the ghostly blue image of a Sith Lord who dressed in flowing robes adorned with some armor over the shoulders and, more conspicuously, a large decoration resembling a giant medallion, and an elaborate horned helmet over his head. Held close to him in one bony hand was a tall and commanding scepter. This, was Marka Ragnos. _"In **my** experience, the masses can be easily won over with promises. They do not wish to be told how it 'is', but rather how it 'isn't'. Tell them only what they wish to hear, however insincere, and make a good show of being honest about your promises, and they will submit in good time."_

"It should be simple enough, Lord Ragnos." Kylo Ren said. "These people...I can sense their anguish. Their pain. Their despair, and anger, and hopelessness at having lived such squalid lives for so long. The cynicism of the elderly, the fear and terror of the young...I can feel _all_ of it. And it is _delicious._ All that stands in the way is the Jedi. Once I get rid of _him_ , the souls of Onderon's people will be mine."

 _"May I make a suggestion?"_ Asked rhetorically the holographic image of Darth Revan. " _It may be better to **not** attack the Jedi directly; turn the populace against him. Make them reject him, as **I** rejected them, and have them **turn** on him."_

"That _was_ my plan." Kylo Ren said, making a cruel smile. "Like Darth Bane said; the common rabble are always so gullible and weak..."

 _The Millennium Falcon_

Chewbacca growled with distaste as his old friend once again outplayed him at Dejarek. At first, these outbursts had startled Rey, but by now she knew Chewbacca meant nothing by them; a classic case of one's bark being worse than their bite. So it was that Rey chuckled at the Wookie's latest manifestation of being a sore loser.

"Well played, Master Skywalker." Rey said with a nod of approval. This elicited an incredulous grunt from Chewbacca, but Rey waved it off. "Oh hush." She said in a mock-scolding tone. "Try to be more graceful in defeat."

Chewbacca muttered something else, but between the low volume and Rey not exactly being fluent in Shyriiwook (the Wookie language), she couldn't tell what it was.

Smiling, Luke noted: "Artoo also used to beat him all the time, right Artoo?"

The blue and white Astromech, having since rejoined it's old master, beeped in agreement. Luke turned to look at Rey and said: "Did you tell my sister we're heading to Onderon?"

Rey nodded. "Yes, I did. She wished us luck, and..." She smiled. "...she told us that there are Jedi there."

At this, Luke practically jumped out of his seat. "What?"

"She said that a Jedi Master named Kyle Katarn is on Onderon trying to help the situation there. Besides that, two other Jedi will be going there. She's actually hoping we'll meet up with them."

"We certainly will." Luke said with a nod. Rey could have sworn she saw the slightest tears form in his eyes, but he quickly blinked them out of existence if they were ever there. "I had given up hope on my Jedi Order." Luke admitted. "After what had happened that night on Yavin, I..." He breathed in deeply. "It will be...good, to see other survivors. I can only hope they will be happy to see _me._ "

"Don't worry, Master Skywalker..." Rey said. "... _I'll_ stand by you."

"I'm grateful." Luke said. "But don't be surprised if we do not get a warm reception. From either my fellow Jedi _or_ Onderon's people."

"Why are things on Onderon so bad?" Rey asked.

Luke sighed. "Oh, I'm afraid Onderon's history has long been sordid. In ancient times, it was a seat of power for several wielders of the Dark Side; Freedon Nadd and Aleema Keto being the worst of the lot. Terrible battles occurred there during the Mandalorian Wars and the dark period after the Jedi Civil War. Then it was a sight of warfare during the Clone Wars, and after _that_ , the Empire took over and installed a puppet government."

"That _does_ all sound really bad." Rey admitted.

"The puppet government was actually not the _worst_ rulers one could have, especially not by Imperial standards or compared to Aleema Keto, but..." Luke sighed. "They were still not _good_ rulers, and one day, the people rose up and killed them. After that, a new dictatorship, worse than the first one, took over. Then _that_ was deposed by anarchists, and for a time, it was exactly that: anarchy. But then, a new government took over. Better than the last one from my understanding, but not the Imperial-era one, who they're just as inefficient as. A lot of Onderon's people are just as hateful and bitter towards them, and if things don't improve, I sense that another revolution will soon break out."

"What can be done?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure." Luke admitted. "But I think we may wish to see if we can't try and improve the current ruling system. I believe that it would be better to try a constructive solution first, rather than a destructive one, which is what another revolution would amount to."

"Do you think we could? Fix things, I mean? Help the rulers be better?"

"I honestly don't know." Luke admitted. "But we _must_ try. Remember that Jedi are first and foremost diplomats and keepers of the peace. If we can get the situation there to fix itself peacefully and with legislature and reform, _instead_ of lightsabers and killing, then that is what we will do."

"I can't disagree with that." Rey admitted, before smiling. "I mean, I _am_ supposed to be a Jedi Consular after all. Negotiation's one of our specialities, right? And I killed enough people on Vjun. I'd much prefer not having to kill anyone on Onderon too."

"I understand, Rey." Luke said, and the empathy in his voice made it clear that, he did in fact understand. "I've killed so many over the years. Just with the Death Star alone. Then all the hundreds upon hundreds of criminals, thugs, Imperials, First Order men and women, and Dark Force users of all types since then." He shook his head. "Never liked it. Not once." He nodded. "Yes, I would _also_ like to resolve this peacefully. I really would. But much of it will depend on how the current King of Onderon receives us."

"Do you know anything about him?"

"Not much." Luke admitted. "Just that he's young, freshly anointed as a monarch, and more incompetent than vicious. It's that last one most of all that gives me hope that he can be reasoned with."

"Let's hope so, Master Skywalker. Otherwise we _will_ have to fight again."

 _Dxun_

"What is it with you Mandalorians and this damned moon?" Poe Dameron wondered aloud as he, Finn, Jaina, Zat, and several other Mandalorians trudged through the jungle undergrowth.

"Our ancestors claimed this moon when they re-forged themselves after the Great Sith War." Borak elaborated, living up to his given role as "the history nut". Furthering this, he added, almost as an after-thought: "The then-Mandalore, Mandalore the Indomitable didn't make it."

"Guess he wasn't very indomitable then." Poe Dameron noted in a deadpan.

"What makes you think Sabine Wren hid the Darksaber here?" Finn asked as the group continued to trudge along, all the while insects buzzing around them and the column occasionally shooting at a Cannok that was too stupid to realize it shouldn't go near them.

"Besides this planet having so much significance to the Mandalorian people?" Jaina asked with a raised eyebrow. "Simple; it's a great place to hide things. So much dense jungle, a few ruined temples here and here, and hardly anyone ever comes here. Perfect place to bury treasure."

"You forgot to mention the various wild beasts that provide _excellent_ guardians and natural defenses." Quipped Zat. By this point in time, Finn and Poe had gotten a better handle on the man, and for all his having a skull-like visage on his helmet, it often seemed that he couldn't be any _more_ laid-back personality-wise. At least, when he wasn't shooting something, that is.

Zat continued: "Zakkegs are the worst by far. Huge, reddish-brown lizards built like tanks. Scales so thick not even blasters can take them down easily. Even smaller predators here are food to them."

"How likely do you think it is that we'll meet one?" Finn asked.

"Not terribly likely." Jaina said. "They're not the most common predator on the planet. But I'd suggest being on your guard just in case. They definitely stalk these jungles."

"Do you think all of us together will be enough to kill one?" Poe asked.

"One, yes." Zat said before adding: "...but not necessarily a whole family of four."

"Don't worry though..." Jaina elaborated. "...they usually hunt alone. We're not likely to run into more than one at a time."

"How do you know so much about this planet?" Finn asked.

"Simple; I _trained_ here. So did Zat. Mandalorians undergo a...'rite of passage' on Dxun. If we survive our lessons, we're ready to face the Galaxy as true Mandalorians."

"Wow. Sounds a little bit like my training with the First Order..."

"The difference is, we don't kidnap infants and children to turn into dishonorable murderers." Borak said with clear distaste.

"No argument there." Finn said, remembering as he did the cold-blooded massacre on Jakku he'd borne witness to. The group kept walking for a short while before he asked: "So...where are we going again?"

"One of the proving grounds." Jaina elaborated. "We don't think Sabine would hide the Darksaber in one of the ruined Sith tombs or temples. Too obvious a place to put a lightsaber, and not a place most Mandalorians would want to go to anyhow. But one of the proving grounds...that's a place sacred to _us._ To _our_ culture. Less conspicuous too. So we're going to one of the proving grounds."

"And if the Darksaber's not there, we...?"

"Go to the next one, and the next one after that, until we find it." Zat said bluntly. "Look at it this way..." He said with a grimace behind his helmet. "...you should get _plenty_ of exercise either way."

"Cute." Poe replied simply as the group continued. Then, he thought to ask: "What about the other party of Mandalorians? Do you think they'll think to come here too?"

"Undoubtedly." Jaina said. "Which is why we should be prepared for an attack from them..." However, as Jaina said this, the group stumbled upon several Clone Troopers and the Mandalorian renegades they had been created for and were loyal to. And all of them were, from the looks of it, a long time dead. And not from wildlife either...

"Those wounds...cauterized...they were from a _lightsaber._ " Zat said grimly.

"Knights of Ren." Poe hissed.

"That means the First Order's probably here too." Finn observed grimly.

"They could be preparing to launch an attack on Onderon from here." Jaina pointed out. "This moon and Onderon are practically sister planets. It would be easy to make an attack from one to the other. It's exactly what _our_ people did during the Mandalorian Wars."

"I say we stop them then." Poe said without batting an eye.

"Are you insane? We don't have anywhere near the manpower to beat back a First Order invasion force. _Especially_ not one that has Knights of Ren. We need to focus on finding the Darksaber..."

"Going to be hard if they're around to interfere."

"Then we kill the ones that get in our way. _Quietly. Not_ get thousands of Stormtroopers all shooting at us at once. Come on, it's not much farther to the proving grounds."

"Wait, I just had a bad thought..." Finn said. "...what if they're here looking for the Darksaber too?"

"Don't see why they would. It's worthless to them." Borak said.

"Not necessarily..." Finn said, pressing the subject. "...what if they want it so they can try and bribe one of you into joining them? Use it to get the Mandalorians on their side?"

"Wouldn't work with us." Jaina said firmly. "We'll _never_ serve those monsters. We're not like the Death Watch or the Neo-Crusaders. _We_ actually believe in honor. And the First Order and Knights of Ren have none."

"Nice sentiment, but the other Mandalorians may or may not share it." Poe pointed out.

"I seriously doubt even the renegades will stoop to joining the First Order." Zat said. "But I can't be sure. Guess we'd better find that Darksaber, huh?"

"All this fuss over one lightsaber..." Poe muttered as the group pressed on. "It had better be worth it..."

 _Onderon_

No sooner did the _Millennium Falcon_ land and Rey, R2-D2, Chewbacca, and Luke disembark, did they get their first taste of the (many), problems on Onderon.

"Halt, offworlder." A man in military fatigues said gruffly. "What is your business here?"

"I don't think our business is any concern of yours." Luke said with a wave of his hand.

"I...don't think your business is any concern of mine." The man repeated, somewhat dazed. Rey smiled. It was the same power she had used on the Stormtrooper on Starkiller Base, instinctively, without even knowing what it was. Since then, she hadn't really had any opportunities to hone the power, to be able to call on it voluntarily rather than through sheer blind luck. But, she enjoyed seeing her master use it all the same.

Upon making their way past the security guard, they saw that the streets and plazas of Onderon were filled with many people who definitely looked like they were not financially well off; their clothes were dirty or damaged or poorly maintained, many looked miserable and discontent, and Luke and Rey could sense the despair and anxiety that hung over most of the population like storm clouds. Which was not to say that literally everyone looked so, but definitely it was clear from just simple observation and Force Senses, that things on Onderon were definitely not ideal. Chewbacca too seemed to feel it, despite having no Force power of his own; but his grunts of agitation and his being more fidgety than Rey was used to seeing him, indicated that he too felt that something was wrong. Even R2-D2 seemed ill at ease (or at least as much as an Astromech Droid could get anyway).

Then they saw a small crowd had formed around a man standing on a podium and shouting at them (and anyone else within ear-shot): "People of Onderon, hear me! Are you tired of living under a broken and inefficient system? Are you tired of a ruler so removed from his people he cannot provide basic necessities!? Well _I_ am, for one! And I say that there is no longer a place for rulers of _any_ sort; kings, queens, dukes, counts, the lot of them! _All_ a relic of the past! We don't _need_ rulers anymore!"

The man's raving paused briefly when he caught sight of Rey, Luke, and Chewbacca. Realizing that they were "fresh off the ship" so to speak, he singled them out. "You there! Off-worlders! What's your say in this?"

"Us? Why are you asking us?"

"A different perspective." The man explained. "You've come to our planet, you're seeing if from an outsider's point of view. Tell me; do you think the situation here is in any way ideal?"

Rey shook her head and answered honestly: "No, I don't. But I'm not sure I agree with what _you're_ saying either; not all rulers are bad, and the times when Onderon had _no_ ruler weren't good either."

"How do you know that?" The man demanded with a frown.

"I've been told about this planet, and it's people." Rey said evenly. "And I _know_ that you've suffered under anarchy before. Why bring _that_ back? Maybe there's a better way...a third option. Something _other_ than more despots or more anarchy."

"Really? And what would _you_ suggest? Something like the _Galactic Senate_ perhaps?"

Rey chose to ignore the obvious contempt and sarcasm in the man's voice when he mentioned the Galactic Senate, and said: "Actually, yes. Yes, I think that sounds like a great idea." Rey locked eyes with the man, giving no ground, which elicited a smile and nod of approval from Luke.

The man smiled. "Heh. democracy-minded, eh? Well, we'll see how long you last here on Onderon, lady. Spend enough time in the districts where there's no lighting or running water, and the buildings are dilapidated because there's no renovation and no one to take care of the district, and we'll see if you're still so hopeful."

"It's not enough to just be against something." Rey said. "You have to be _for_ something better."

To this, the man on the podium had no rebuke to give.

As Rey, Luke, and Chewbacca walked off, with R2-D2 right behind them, Luke said: "I'm proud of you, Rey. You handled yourself well there."

"Thanks, Master Skywalker." She smiled softly. "I _did_ learn from the best."

 _The Hand of Complicity_

" _Are your forces ready for their mission?"_ Asked the holographic image of Kylo Ren. General Hux, insulted that Kylo Ren would think him unprepared, rolled his eyes and said: "Of _course_. Our propagandists and rabble-rousers are en route to Onderon now, with a contingent of men for protection and nothing more. I selected the media they're to feed those people _personally_. Tailored specifically to highlight their past woes, _our_ strengths, and the Republic's weaknesses."

 _"Good, good."_ Kylo Ren said with a nod of satisfaction. " _I have set myself up here on the planet, in the old palace of Aleema Keto. I should inform you that there is at least one Jedi on Onderon now. We'll have to turn the public against him."_

"Can't you just kill him?" Hux demanded.

" _I could, but that wouldn't look good to Onderon's people. We must first make it so that Onderon's people **want** me to kill him. **Then** I will remove him."_

"You'd better." Hux warned. I want no damn Jedi interfering with our plans for this system."

" _The Jedi won't be a problem, so long as you leave him to me."_ Kylo Ren replied testily.

"Why does that not fill my heart with confidence?" Hux asked sarcastically.

" _I don't care if it does or not. It's how it's going to be. You'd best accept that."_

As Kylo Ren's holographic form vanished, General Hux scowled. _Enjoy your bossing me around while you can. Once Fyyar finishes the Purge Troopers and the rest of my countermeasures against you and your kind, I'll never have to kowtow to any of you revolting mystics ever again._

Turning to his bridge officer, Hux ordered the ship bearing the propagandists to go down to Onderon's surface. He then exited the bridge and went into the lab that had been reserved for Ulys Fyyar to check on his progress.

"Well?"

"The first Purge Troopers are finally done." Fyyar reported. "I did weapons calibrations and tests myself. They've performed admirably against all the different First Order droid models I set up against them. Shredded them to scrap."

"Pfft. Some of my men can do that. I want to see how they perform against _Jedi._ That's what they're _built_ for."

"Then get me a live Jedi, and I can show you." Fyyar said, giving no ground. Hux made the slightest of cruel smirks. "Funny you should say that; I was just told there's a Jedi on Onderon right now. Kylo Ren means to kill him, but..." Hux's smirk grew into a full smile. "...I _might_ be able to convince him to hand him over to me, or else get him before Kylo Ren has a chance to kill him. _Then_ we can test these machines of yours on an actual, proper Jedi."

"Well, I'll be here waiting." Fyyar said in a deadpan. Hux continued: "Much as I hope we get Onderon, even if we lose it, it's still a victory for me; it was Kylo Ren's idea to try and take Onderon through persuasion instead of force. If it fails, then that failure will be on _his_ head, and I will enjoy _personally_ reporting it to the Supreme Leader. With any luck, he'll punish Kylo Ren severely."

"You really do have a personal grudge against him, don't you?" Fyyar noted. Hux scoffed. "I have a 'personal grudge' against _all_ of them, you know that. All the more reason why I want to put my plan into action as soon as is viable."

"That time may be further away than you want." Fyyar warned. "I keep telling you you need to be _patient_. I _cannot_ make what you want at break-neck speed. It simply won't work."

"Don't test me, Fyyar." Hux warned. "My patience has _limits._ And I _don't_ like it when people try to stall me."

"I'm _not_ trying to stall you..." Fyyar said reasonably. "I'm simply telling you the way it is."

"Well, taking Onderon may take some time, so you'll have more time to work. But _get it done._ Do you hear me, Fyyar? _Get it done!_ "

Hux stormed out of the lab. Fyyar watched him go, and then sighed. He didn't really disagree with Hux's hatred of the Force users, but he _did_ disagree with the man's impatience. Hux had clearly been chafing under the Supreme Leader and Kylo Ren for some time, and his having to work alongside the latter for a second long-term period had done little to improve his mood. In that moment Fyyar understood just how truthful Hux had been when he'd said his patience had limits. And those limits were clearly being reached.

Fyyar was also not blind to the General's capacity for brutality and viciousness, whether his victims used the Force or not. He was a hard man, to be sure, and not a merciful one. Fyyar had known for some time now, that if ever Hux felt he didn't need the not-so-good doctor anymore, he would almost assuredly get rid of him. Not necessarily a formal execution, or even walking up to him and shooting him. But definitely an..."accident" could occur.

Fyyar shook his head. He didn't love Hux, and he knew Hux didn't care about him except as an asset. But Fyyar had his own grudge against those who used the Force, and in any event, he'd made his bed with the First Order general. Their plan was such that it's premature discovery meant immediate execution for treason. He had no choice but to stick it out with the man. Even if he _was_ starting to really dislike him.

 _Just keep it together, Fyyar._ He silently coached to himself. _Just finish the last of the Purge Troopers and the weapons Hux wants to equip his rank-and-file soldiers with. Overthrow the Supreme Leader and the Knights of Ren, and hunt down the Jedi. And then it will be over. And then I'll be gone so fast it will make General Hux's head spin._

 _Dxun_

Finn had to admit that he felt a bit..."let down", when he saw the proving grounds.

Of course to be fair, they had not been used in some time, that much was clear. But even so, the whole place looked to Finn's eyes to be fairly simplistic and underwhelming.

 _Although..._ Finn thought. _...I guess if you were going to bury something here, no one would ever know where to find it._

"It's not much to look at." Jaina admitted, as if she could read Finn's thoughts. "But it's where Mandalorian warriors are made. Haven't been here since I first proved myself."

"You don't think Sabine buried it here, did you?" Poe asked. Zat shook his head and answered for Jaina: "I doubt it. She'd want the Darksaber to be something that could still be found and wielded by a worthy person, but not be found so easily that _anyone_ could get to it."

"Which means what, exactly?" Poe asked.

"It means that anyone who can pass the Mandalorian trials here would be worthy of getting the Darksaber at the end." Jaina said simply. "No worries, I can handle that just fine. I already passed them once."

"I'm coming." Finn volunteered.

"No offense, but you'd just slow me down."

"I was trained to be a First Order Stormtrooper, I _know_ survival skills. I'll admit it's not Mandalorian training, but not every Mandalorian was already at their best when they went through these tests. Let me try."

Jaina shook her head. "What are you trying to prove here?"

"That I'm willing to do my part." Finn said simply but resolutely.

Again, Jaina shook her head. "Alright, but if you die, I'm not taking any responsibility."

"I understand." Finn said, before adding with a grimace: "My old captain thought the same way."

Choosing to ignore how Finn had just likened her to a First Order stooge, Jaina Solo made her way to the ruins of the only real building in the proving grounds. Inside were various items and devices that, as Jaina explained to Finn, were designed to test one's physical limits, including endurance. "Mandalorians are trained to resist torture. No one can hold out forever, obviously, but having more tolerance for pain than the average person _does_ have it's uses."

"So they...torture you?"

"As a means of preparing you only." Jaina stressed. "We're _not_ monsters."

Finn said nothing in response to this, and followed Jaina down a hallway. She took a few steps, and instinctively ducked to avoid a flurry of darts that were fired out of one wall. Realizing how booby-trapped the place was, Finn followed Jaina's example and did his best to avoid them himself. Fortunately, his having always excelled in First Order Stormtrooper training paid off, and he managed to not get hit by any of the toxic darts, a single one of which would have at best left him seriously weakened and ill, and at worst killed him. From there, the two evaded other booby traps as well, Jaina helpfully pointing them out to Finn in advance (as none of them were new to her). After navigating a few more obstacles, they came upon a small stone pedestal that had on it a cone-shaped device. Curious, Finn walked towards it but Jaina held out a hand. "Hold it. See that?" She pointed, and Finn squinted his eyes. Sure enough, he could perceive that the pedestal was in fact a pressure plate of some sort.

"If we take that object off without putting something else on, it might trigger another trap."

"Might? I thought you knew all the things in this place by heart?"

"Not this one." Jaina said, shaking her head. "Never had to do a test like this one before." She turned to Finn. "Gather up some stones. I've got a spare bag to put them in."

Finn did so, and Jaina walked up to the pedestal. She hovered over it for a few moments, and then abruptly took the device off the pedestal and placed the bag of rocks onto it instead. For all of a few seconds, it looked like it worked. Then, the bag of stones sunk, as the pedestal lowered.

"...run."

Needing no other invitation, Finn took off with Jaina. The good news, was that the darts had been launched once and so they could just run back the way they came without needing to dodge anything. The bad news, was that a large boulder had now been dropped behind them and was coming towards them at great speed.

"You know, I remember being told that my father experienced something like this once before..." Jaina noted as she and Finn continued to desperately run. Eventually, they made it out just as the boulder finished smashing through, getting stuck in the doorway only briefly before destroying that too.

"...that was close." Finn said in-between pants.

"But at least we got what we came for." Jaina said. As she did, she saw that there was a small, circular device at the bottom of the cone. Pulling it out, Jaina quickly identified it as a holoprojector, but one that was encoded. The key to breaking the code, it turned out, was to answer a question. Namely one that only Mandalorians were likely to answer correctly:

"What year did the Mandalorians elect Mandalore the Vindicated?" Finn read out loud. Jaina shook her head.

"Never, it's a trick question. The Mandalorians have **_never_** elected a Mandalore. The Mandalore claims it through might or somehow proving through deeds that he's worthy of the title. We don't vote or anything like that."

"Not very democratic." Finn noted, but the data-projector clearly liked Jaina's answer, as it gave a fairly enthusiastic mechanical sound before the base lit up and the blue, holographic image of a young female Mandalorian appeared. Jaina recognized her, and even Finn, who had never seen a single image of Sabine Wren before in his life, still knew it was her.

" _Congratulations for getting the trick question right. You're either a Mandalorian who knows their stuff, or just a really smart person. Either way, you passed_."

"I am Jaina Solo." Jaina said. "I am here to find the Darksaber."

" _Well, if you want the Darksaber, you need to go a little further. This hologram projector was the first clue. It will lead you to the second. And **that** , will give you an idea of where to go, if you're smart enough to figure out it's message_."

"And where is this second clue?" Finn asked, even though a part of him didn't really expect the pre-recorded hologram to give a straight answer. But, in fact, she did:

" _Onderon. The planet Dxun has orbited and another place very important to the Mandalorian people_."

"So where do we need to go to find the clue on Onderon?" Jaina asked.

" _Hey, come on, you figured out the first trick question, and you knew to go to these old proving grounds before that, right? You're a smart person. You can figure it out."_

And then the message ended and the image of Sabine Wren disappeared. Jaina shook her head. Finn turned to her: "So I guess this means we're going to Onderon?"

"Yeah. And if I had to guess, the 'clue' is in another specific place on the planet important to the Mandalorians. That could be a few different places, but it's probably somewhere within one of the old cities the Mandalorians invaded and occupied during the Mandalorian Wars. My bet would be on the big one of Iziz."

"Alright then. Let's go there."

 _Onderon_

Even though they had all sensed his arrival on Onderon, the three Jedi who had once been proud members of Luke Skywalker's academy still nearly shot out of their chairs when he walked in through the doorway, with his new Padawan, a Wookie, and an Astromech droid in tow. Luke looked to each of them in turn and made a faint smile.

"Hello, my old friends."

The first of the three Jedi, and the one who had been on Onderon the longest, walked forwards. He was a man who had gotten fairly along in years, and so his once all brown hair and distinguished beard had started to gray. Lines had shown up on his face too. But he was still physically fit, still had the poise of a Jedi, and had a lightsaber and a personal K-16 Bryar Pistol securely fitted on his belt. And the Light Side radiated off of him strongly as well.

His name, was Kyle Katarn.

"Well, I'll be..." Kyle said. "...I never thought I'd see _you_ again."

"I was gone for too long." Luke admitted. "But I'm back now. I have my Padawan here to thank for it. She was the one who got me back into this life." Luke stepped to one side to indicate Rey. Kyle smiled and shook Rey's hand. "So, you're the new kid, huh? How are you finding the life of a Jedi so far?"

"Difficult." Rey admitted, before adding quickly: "But worthwhile. _Much_ better than life on Jakku."

"Jakku? You mean that desert world filled with old wreckage?" Asked one of the other Jedi, Kirana Ti. Rey nodded. "Yes, _that_ planet. I hated it there. I'm much happier here helping people and fighting against the First Order."

"So, what brings you to Onderon, Luke?" Kyle asked, having known Luke for so long and so well that he referred to him by his first name (and titles in general were not something he had ever taken to).

"Trying to get this planet on the Resistance's side." Luke admitted. " _And_ break them out of their cycle of violence if we can."

"We had the same goal." Kirana Ti said. Notably, her tone towards Luke was nowhere near as friendly sounding as Kyle's had been, which Rey's ears hadn't failed to detect.

"Perhaps we should work together then." Luke suggested. "Five Jedi may have a better chance of success than two or three."

"Hold now..." The Geonosian Jedi Ikvizar Fac said in as sharp a tone as his being a Jedi allowed. "...you have been absent for some time, Master Skywalker. You said so yourself. You will forgive us for being...'un-enthusiastic', about your sudden return."

"I am sorry I walked away from you all." Luke said. "That was wrong of me, but..." He shook his head. "...it was hard for me, what happened. As it was hard for all of you. But I shouldn't have left you all behind."

"No, you shouldn't have." Kirana Ti noted simply.

"Now there's no sense in pushing Luke around." Kyle Katarn said. "He's still the best of us all and the one who brought us all together in the first place. Not a single one of us would be Jedi were it not for him. We owe him that much at least."

"True." Ikvizar Fac admitted, but added: "But our loyalty cannot be unconditional. Though we appreciate your return to the fold, Master Skywalker, to simply expect us to follow you again without question, as though the last few years did not occur..." He shook his head. "Impossible."

"I don't ask that you follow me without question." Luke said. "I ask that you help improve a very dangerous climate and fix a broken system, before this planet gets hit by another revolution."

"Well, that's the plan." Kyle Katarn noted. "Under normal circumstances, we'd just meet with the king, sit down, and talk it out with him. But..." Kyle sighed. "...being a Jedi doesn't mean what it used to. The reigning monarch's got himself locked down in his personal tower good and tight. Hardly anyone that doesn't work for him gets in."

"We could try sneaking in." Rey pointed out.

"Which would not make us look good at all." Kirana Ti said. "We need to prove to the king that we are here to help, not harm."

"Then I think I have a solution..." Luke said. "...if none but the king's guards and servants can get into the tower, then I suggest we locate one such person and convince him to arrange a meeting for us."

"Where could we find such a person though?"

Luke smiled softly. "In my experience, when people are off-duty, they usually go to one of two places; home, or a cantina. _Especially_ if it's a bad job. I suggest we try the latter first, so we don't have to add 'home invaders' to our resumes."

At this, all of the Jedi with Luke couldn't help but chuckle, and in that one, good moment, Luke _almost_ forgot how distanced he had become from his own Jedi Order.

Elsewhere on Onderon, the First Order's propagandists had arrived and wasted little time getting to it; they scouted out the area, and eventually found a place conducive to spreading their message. Then they set themselves up, and started broadcasting said message:

"Hear us, people of Onderon! How much more inefficiency and incompetence will you allow from your rulers? Don't you think it's time that your planet had strong and effective leadership? Then embrace the First Order! It's right there in our name: _order._ Not the sort of squalid living you have now where everything is a struggle. _Not_ like the New Republic that just let you keep floundering because they were too busy helping other, richer planets. No, my friends, the First Order will be there for you! We will lift you up out of your poverty! We shall make Onderon wondrous again! But only if you let us!"

Soon enough, a crowd had formed around the propagandists. From there, the First Order's silver-tongued speakers went out of their way to list the "virtues" of the organization, stressing their unity, order, cleanliness, and sheer power, whilst conveniently forgetting to mention the full extent of their many crimes against civilization. Obviously, news of Starkiller Base and what it had done had already reached the ears of Onderon's people, but the propagandists insisted that the destruction had been a consequence of the nearby stars going supernova, which was in turn a consequence of a "devastating" battle between First Order and New Republic naval forces. While they were at it, the propagandists went some lengths towards highlighting all of the perceived shortcomings of New Republic democracy, also emphasizing as often as they could how Onderon's people had been left out in the cold.

Some in the crowd left almost immediately, clearly too cynical to be won over with eloquent speaking or flowery words. Others steadily drifted away or left because they (rightly), saw the deceitfulness and insincerity in the First Order men's words. Others, though, stayed. And listened. And over time, they got won over.

So it was that the poisoning of Onderon's people, began in earnest.

 _Dromund Kaas_

He sensed her distinctly, now.

It struck Snoke all at once. Where previously he had been aware of the girl Kylo Ren had told him about but little more, now he sensed her _exact_ presence in the Force; she stood out like an especially bright star in the great sky that was life. He could feel acutely her connection to the Light Side, could make out her youth and innocence, but her silent courage as well. But, most of all, he realized...

 _No._ Snoke scowled darkly. So intense was the anger he radiated that the pillars lining his throne room began to crack and crumble partially in response.

 _They were all supposed to have died! None of them got away! **None!**_

Snoke now rose from his throne in full, and began to pace in agitated fashion. How could it have happened? He'd seen to the destruction of the girl's family personally. _All_ of them. No one had gotten away...had they?

Snoke frowned. He remembered that he hadn't actually seen all of the deaths personally. But he'd assumed the men he'd sent after the queen and her daughters had been sufficient to kill them. But...

He hadn't sensed them pass on into the Force. Any of them. And he knew full well that all of them had at least some connection to it. He should have pursued them himself, but he'd trusted that they would not escape the clutches of every last person who wanted them dead as much as he did. He shook his head.

 _Again I am reminded of the folly in trusting others._

He'd sought death against that whole family. All of them. And he'd gotten some of them, he was certain of that. But now, he realized, sensing the girl Kylo Ren had first brought to his attention, he realized that she was one of the ones he'd missed. And that simply would not stand.

 _I'd hoped to turn her into another Knight of Ren, but now that I know..._ Again, he shook his head. **_No._** _No, I will not allow her to live. It is regrettable to snuff out such a powerful conduit of the Force, but it must be done. My revenge against her family must be **total**. The lineage must end with her death._

 _Onderon_

Tamtel sighed deeply.

Every time he went to the bars and passed by the children sleeping in alleyways or on street corners, scavengers helping themselves to the parts of droids that had been blasted to pieces in broad daylight in the streets, or the sheer, directionless and hopeless anger he felt radiating off of most of Onderon's people like a foul stench from a trash compactor, Tamtel was reminded of why he didn't wear his uniform outside the king's personal tower. The people would have probably killed him on the spot.

Not that his death would do a bloody thing to improve the lots of any of them, of course. But then, the slaying of the Imperial Royal Family who had governed Onderon during the Palpatine era, had not done anything to improve the lives of Onderon's people either, and the masses had been all-too happy to do _that_. Just as they'd been all too happy to visit similar violence on anyone and everyone they deemed an acceptable outlet for their bottomless rage.

Tamtel took another gulp of the Tarisian Ale. Or at least, he _thought_ it was Tarisian Ale. The beverage had initially all but disappeared after that insane Darth whatshisname had had the planet Taris bombarded from orbit some four thousand years ago. But as it had now been four thousand years, it had had plenty of time to make a comeback. But there were still plenty of phonies and fakes to go around. Whatever the drink Tamtel was downing was though, it was pretty foul-tasting, and he wasn't sure why he'd gotten it at all before reminding himself that it was all he could afford with what little money he intended to waste on alcohol. The more expensive and fine vintages were a luxury of the rich, and with the way the economy on the planet continued to flounder, even a man like Tamtel who worked for the king could no longer afford it on his salary.

 _Well, if nothing else, it **is** potent and dulls my senses, and I can certainly settle for that._

With that thought in mind, Tamtel took another swig. He definitely needed some dulled senses right at the moment; that last sight in particular of a couple of Rodians rifling through a garbage bin for what he hoped desperately wasn't food but strongly suspected was, had left him in serious need of an escape from the realities of his king's "rule" staring him in the face.

It wasn't as if his king meant to cause such pain and suffering either; he was just a kid who didn't understand or fully appreciate the complexities and enormity of responsibility that came with being king. But how was Tamtel going to tell him that? No, royal guards didn't say such things to their kings. It just wasn't how it was.

Tamtel sighed as he took another swig, and tried to take another one before realizing that his cup was empty. Tamtel shook his head. He was feeling tipsy, but not fully drunk, which was unfortunate, because he needed that. Oh, did he need it...

"You seem very troubled, my friend."

Tamtel turned around slowly and saw an older man with full beard and hooded cloak walk up to him. Sitting down next to him, he smiled warmly, and for some reason, even in his somewhat intoxicated state, Tamtel felt more at ease looking at the man. There was something about him that inspired confidence and permission to be vulnerable and open when near him. And Tamtel quickly decided that he enjoyed the feeling.

"You could say that, Mr...?"

"Luke." The man said. It took Tamtel a few moments to make the connection (had he been fully sober, he'd have made it in an instant). "Luke...any relation to...the Jedi Master?"

"Some." Luke said with a gentle smile. "You don't like how things are here, do you?"

Tamtel shook his head slowly and said just as slowly: "No, I don't."

"Well, perhaps I can help."

Tamtel chuckled. "Really? How?"

"Well, if you could arrange a meeting between myself and your king..."

"Not sure I can do that. What if you're an assassin who wants him dead? Lot of folks want the king dead these days."

"Well, let me ask you: do I seem like a cold-blooded assassin to you?"

Tamtel shook his head. "No. But you can't always tell."

"That's true, you can't. Then I suppose you'll just have to trust me."

Tamtel considered. Perhaps, if he hadn't had a full mug of diluted Tarisian Ale and some other similarly foul, low-grade alcoholic beverage before that, he'd have had the sense to say no. Or perhaps even in spite of his mild to moderate intoxication he recognized that this man was in fact on the level. Or perhaps it had gotten to the point where he just didn't care anymore and if the man ended up killing his king then fine, so be it. It wasn't as though things could get much worse, and if they did, then _another_ inept or tyrannical ruler would just step up to replace the last few.

Nodding, Tamtel said: "Alright, fine...if you mean what you say. Meet me in the main plaza tomorrow. When I'm fully sober and off-duty."

"I will."

Tamtel smiled in the face of this, and then got up and left the bar. Luke watched him go for a few moments before getting up and leaving himself.

Meanwhile, the Mandalorians arrived on Onderon, and when they did, they caused quite the stir. Even though most of them had (wisely), decided to stay on the ship and only Jaina and Zat had exited along with Poe and Finn, the sight of two fully armored and helmeted Mandalorians nevertheless prompted scores of folks to run as fast as they could. Zat shook his head at the sight.

"Geez. It's been thousands of years since our people invaded this planet during the Mandalorian Wars. You'd think they'd have gotten over it by now."

"You don't really 'get over' crimes against your people." Poe Dameron pointed out.

"Fair enough, but still; _we_ weren't the Mandalorians who attacked them. Why the hell should we have to be treated like invaders?"

"In fairness, that wasn't the last time our people hurt theirs." Jaina Solo noted.

"I say we just keep moving and make sure none of us gets shot by a really angry, stupid person with a blaster and a grudge." Finn suggested.

"I like your thinking." Jaina admitted. They walked a while longer, before Finn for one got treated to a pleasant sight.

"Rey, is that you?"

"Finn!" Rey shouted with glee, forgetting for a moment her lessons in Jedi discipline and self-control and running up to her first and best friend since getting left behind on Jakku. She hugged him ferociously. "Oh, Finn, I'm so glad you're alright! I've been so worried about you! Ever since Starkiller Base..."

"I've been thinking about you a lot too." Finn admitted. "It's good to see you again, Rey." He looked at the double-bladed lightsaber hilt that was clipped to her belt. "Is that...?"

Rey nodded. "It is, Finn. I'm a Jedi now. Built my own lightsaber and everything."

Finn smiled and gave a silent, respectful nod of acknowledgement. "Wow. A Jedi. Can't believe it..."

"We all thought they were finished." Poe Dameron admitted. "Good to see we were wrong."

"The Jedi have been nearly wiped out before." Kyle Katarn pointed out, stepping forward. "After the Jedi Civil War. After the Clone Wars. And now after the Knights of Ren. But we _always_ bounce back."

"Yeah, I guess you do." Poe admitted. He took Kyle's hand and shook it. "I recognize you, sir. Kyle Katarn. A pleasure."

Kyle smiled. "Heh. Nice to be remembered."

"You're one of the Rebel Alliance and New Repubublic's greatest heroes. Of course I know who you are." Poe said with a grin.

"What are you doing here?" Rey asked curiously. It was only then that she noticed that Finn and Poe had two Mandalorians with them. "And who are they?"

"Jaina Solo. This is my companion, Zat." Jaina answered. "We're members of the True Mandalorians. We've agreed to help the Resistance if your friends here help us find the Darksaber."

"Solo...are you...?"

"Yes." Jaina said simply. "And yes, I know about what happened to my father."

"I'm so sorry." Rey said.

"Thank you. But anyway, our search for the Darksaber led us to Onderon."

"Well, we won't get in your way." Kyle said. "If it gets you on our side and against those First Order maniacs, I'm all for it."

"Same here." Rey said, privately curious as to just what "the Darksaber" actually was. That was one bit of Jedi lore and Galactic history Luke hadn't shared with her...yet. Perhaps she should ask him about it when she had a moment with him?

"Anyway..." Finn said. "...we should probably get going. But it was nice to see you again, Rey."

Rey nodded. "Yes, it was nice to see you again too." She said with a smile. "I hope we can have more time to catch up...after you find the Darksaber."

"Same here."

As Finn left, Rey realized she sensed something about him. It didn't take her long to realize what that "something" was, and she silently resolved to tell him the next time she saw him:

Finn was Force-Sensitive.


End file.
